Two trophies will now be on offer for the first time at this year’s 35th staging of the Ash Wednesday Bob Marley One Love Fun Day Football extravaganza.

The details of the family-friendly extravaganza, which will be held on February 10 at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex in Arnett Gardens, were announced at a media launch at Cuddy’z Sports Bar and Restaurant yesterday.

The matches, which have been played since 1982 in honour of the Reggae icon, have been a feature of Black History Month, and will also mark the celebration of the icon’s 71st birthday.

This year the Masters & Celebrities team will include 2016 Rhodes Scholar Sherona Forrester and Reggae Girl teammate Tashana Vincent vying for the new trophy against the referees.

Entertainers Invitational and Tuff Gong Invitational will challenge for the Bob Marley One Love Trophy, which was designed by Cedella Marley, daughter of the late reggae icon.

Clive ‘Busy’ Campbell, head of the organising committee, noted that proceeds from the event will once again be geared towards a worthy cause.

“Proceeds from the event last year were used to purchase two computers for a basic school. Technology has now taken over the world, and it is our duty to assist in bringing technology into the inner city communities,” he said while addressing the launch.

Campbell also used the platform to make an appeal.

“We are on a mission [and] we will do the best we can to guide our young boys to be better men whenever possible, we should try to keep them off the streets by staging community football competitions.

“We have to save them from themselves as they are the future leaders if only they are given a chance, so encourage them not to get involved in any kind of violence due to differences in political ideologies, it is not worth it,” he urged.

“Friends in football, sponsors, thank you for your support over the years and I do look forward to seeing you on Ash Wednesday,” Campbell added.

Tari Lovell, sponsorship manager of Digicel Group, explained that his organisation is always delighted to support an event of this nature.

“Bob Marley truly embodied Jamaica’s culture and reggae music and took it around the world, so Digicel is excited and proud to be affiliated with the Bob Marley group of companies. We just re-signed a three-year contract with them and we have a concert coming up, so we are just excited to be able to support this charitable football,” he told the

Jamaica Observer.

Meanwhile, Alicia Williams, public relations manager of Bob Marley Foundation, expressed pleasure at the charity aspect of the extravaganza which is a part of the foundation’s mandate to contribute to education.

“We are delighted to know that there is an organisation that is helping to continue the legacy of Bob Marley. Our charity coincides with this project itself because it involves matches; there is an educational component where they will be actually purchasing computers for selected basic schools, so we are happy about that,” she noted.

Dennis Brown and the members of the Mighty Diamond group will be honoured at the event for their stellar contribution to the development of reggae music, both locally and internationally.

Admission will be $200 for adults and $100 for children. The activities are scheduled to begin at 4:00 pm.

Byron Earle, Kevin ‘Pele’ Wilson and Cornel Chin-Sue, all products of the Arnett Gardens football club, are expected to feature in the Tuff Gong Invitational team, among others.