Organisers of the Guinness Street Football Competition are using technology to make it easier for local scrimmage teams to participate in this year’s staging of the international contest.

This is good news for talented street footballers all across Jamaica, especially those who live outside of major urban centres where simply entering a competition often means travelling long distances.

For the 2016 staging of the Guinness Street Football Competition, teams can sign up online and on social media as well as through the traditional method of completing forms which can be done at special registration events across the island. Applications will also be accepted at parish offices of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF). “We want to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to enter and win,” said Imru James, brand manager for Guinness and Stouts at Red Stripe. “We have a mix of old methods and new 21st-century channels to make it accessible for those people who can’t make it to the pop-up registration or those who live outside of main towns.”

Teams of up to 10 members with a non-playing coach can register by calling the competition’s hotline at 618-9291, or by visiting their JFF parish office to sign up. General entries, including those received via social media, will be accepted up to five days before each parish play-off, starting March 1. A total of 16 teams will then be randomly selected from each parish, and match line-ups announced each week on social media. “Final registration for parish playoffs will be done in person and on paper, but we are incorporating social media into our competition more and more because it is an important part of how people communicate today,” explained James. Final registration takes place on match days, at which time teams are provided with custom gear in which to compete.

This year’s street football teams will be competing for a share of $1.3m, and a chance to show which ballers are made of more. The national champions will also travel to St Lucia to compete for US$6,000 and the title of Guinness Street Football Champion.