Although not confirming the exact restart date for the ISSA Manning and DaCosta Cups, ISSA Competitions Officer Ewan Scott says they intend to resume the competitions before the end of the month.

The urban and rural area high school football competitions were postponed at the round-of-16 stage on October 24 in the wake of the passage of Hurricane Melissa. They have been on hold indefinitely as the schools and, by extension, the wider parishes, particularly southern and western Jamaica, grapple with the aftermath of the category five hurricane.

As reported by the Jamaica Observer, ISSA’s executive body held its first meeting on Friday evening to discuss the resumption of the competitions. Prior to the start of the meeting, ISSA President Keith Wellington told the Observer that a decision wasn’t immediately on the cards due to the need for consulting their respective stakeholders.

“We have an executive body that will discuss all the pros and cons after consultations with our stakeholders, with our school membership,” he said. “That will include not just the schools that are actively participating in the competition, who I think will have probably the biggest say in determining what happens, but we’ll also have to discuss this with our sponsors, our media partners, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Sports, the Government as a whole, as to what they think are our best options.”

The Observer further understands that there have been at least two more meetings including one on Monday, which involved ISSA’s executive and various stakeholders including school officials and sponsors.

It’s further understood that most of the schools remaining in the respective competitions, have given their availability to restart with next Friday suggested as a reasonable restart date. However, the
Observer understands Maldon High of St James and Maggotty High of St Elizabeth have reportedly expressed concerns as they have yet to ascertain the safety of several players in their squad.

The Observer also understands that some sponsors have reservations of returning in the next few weeks with the island still recovering from the hurricane which has seen many schools, including participating DaCosta Cup school unable to reopen to classes.

Speaking to the Observer on Monday, Scott couldn’t confirm the details of the meeting but revealed more will be had in the coming days which will help them move closer to a decision.

“We’re still meeting with all the stakeholders,” he said. “No decision has been taken as yet. We’re exploring all the possibilities. No consensus yet so therefore we have another set of meetings as we progress.

“We’re looking at late November thereabouts but in a week, we’ll be able to give everybody an opportunity to at least get their players together and so forth so, we’re looking at the latter part of November, if we get consensus.”

There have been suggestions that the Manning Cup could return before the DaCosta Cup, seeing that the urban area was less affected by the hurricane. However, Scott is hopeful both can be played simultaneously.

“The hope would be if we can get both of them but as I say, no firm decision has been made; we’re looking at all options. What we’re trying to do is to see if we can get Manning [Cup] and DaCosta [Cup] finished this side of the year.”

Scott also confirmed the Under-14 and Under-16 competitions, which should have started at the end of October, are likely to be played in January.

The Observer understands the Champions Cup, the all-island knockout competition, is also being considered for January. However, there’s a possibility that the Walker Cup and Ben Francis Cup, the urban and rural area knockout competitions, are currently up in the air.

Damari Bowen (right) of Hydel tries to get control of the ball ahead of Deshawn Byfield of Kingston College in their ISSA Manning Cup match played at Stadium East on Wednesday, October 22. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Cornwall College’s Ameche Robinson (right) gets away from Maldon High’s Clevon Campbell in their ISSA daCosta Cup round of 16 Zone 1 game played at Cornwall College on Wednesday, October 22. (Photo: Paul Reid)

SCOTT…we’re looking at late November thereabouts .