There are to be drastic changes to schoolboy football this season which is set to kick off on the first Saturday in September. Organisers have announced a reduced format, new broadcast partner in CVM TV and presenting sponsor Charles Chocolate through its brands Ping Pong and Catch.

Wisynco returns through its brands, Wata, PowerAde.

TruShake and Pringles will be the presenting sponsors of the urban area Manning Cup, with its brands displayed on the front of the jerseys.

Approximately $80m worth of sponsorship was garnered by the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) as long-time sponsor KFC is back. Bert’s Auto Parts joins as a pool sponsor, alongside Kirk Distributors through its brands Kendel and Cetamol.

At the glittering launch at the Summit (formerly Knutsford Court) in New Kingston on Wednesday, ISSA President Keith Wellington welcomed the support of corporate Jamaica.

“The newness of the sponsors will ensure that there will be something… [different] this year. We are hoping that will bring some excitement into the competition, both on the field as well as off the field,” a beaming Wellington told the Jamaica Observer.

“We were a little bit disappointed last year with the crowd that turned out for some of the games. We are hoping that these sponsors now will be using their execution plans, will bring more people into the venues this year,” he said.

All-island champions Kingston College (KC) will start the defence of their Manning Cup title on Septemeber 6 when they tackle Charlie Smith High in the feature game of the double header at Stadium East field, while rural area daCosta Cup champions Garvey Maceo are scheduled to play Foga Road High in the curtain-raiser.

Thompson Town High was a late withdrawal from Group H in the daCosta Cup, leaving 78 teams. There are 39 teams in the Manning Cup.

The Manning Cup will see the end of the home and away games format in the preliminary round as teams will play each other once.

After seven games or six games — depending on whether there are eight or seven schools in the group — the four bottom-placed teams will be eliminated from the group of eight. The three bottom-placed teams from the group of seven will face the same fate. The top four teams in each group will then play three more games amongst themselves to determine which schools will progress.

The top three teams, along with the best fourth-placed side, will advance to the second round which, is to feature 16 teams.

In the daCosta Cup, for groups with six or fewer teams, the home-and-away format remains the same, except for groups with seven and more teams. Those groups will adopt a similar format to the Manning Cup.

WELLINGTON… we are hoping that these sponsors now will be using their execution plans, will bring more people into the venues this year (Photo: Joseph Wellington)