MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) will continue to try to play schoolboy football games under floodlights, and the opening games on September 12 in Montego Bay could be the first.

At the annual planning meeting of the daCosta Cup competition held at Manchester High recently, ISSA Competitions Secretary George Forbes told coaches and managers of teams taking part that they were “still trying to work out the logistics” of playing games under lights.

Among the issues was the number of available venues that had floodlights good enough to host games and how many of the 81 schools from the 12 parishes that would have the opportunity.

Forbes said unless there were two teams from the same area of the island meeting and there was a venue suitable to host it, the final set for December 3 would be played at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

Meanwhile, Forbes also announced that every player taking part in any ISSA-run sport, including football, must be “registered and certified” by ISSA or they would not be allowed to participate.

An upgrade in the registration system, he said, would require the registration and photograph of every athlete also on the computerised system. This, he said, was another step in making sure that the athletes who are competing are who their IDs say they are.

For the schoolboy football competitions, the daCosta and Manning cups, the registration opens on July 15 and must be completed by September 1.

Meanwhile, the 81 teams that will take part is the most that will participate in the last three years.

Nine schools that did not take part last year, return. They are Hopewell High in Zone B, Cambridge High in Zone C, Maud McLeod in Zone D, Winston Jones in Zone F, Bellefield High in Zone G, Kellits High in Zone H, Tacky High in Zone J, Buff Bay High in Zone L, and St Thomas Tech in Zone O.