WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — Mannings School will host Calabar High in a friendly football double header at the school grounds in Savanna-la-Mar on Saturday in what it is hoped will be a small step towards some semblance of normalcy for the community that was devastated by the passage of hurricane Melissa last month.

The schools’ under-16 teams will meet at 1:00pm before their under-19 teams face off in the 3:00pm feature.

Both teams are still alive in their respective daCosta Cup and Manning Cup round of 16 and will also be preparing for the restart of the competition later this month.

Jessica Davidson, general manager of the Mannings football programme, told Observer Online on Friday the expectations from the games were two-fold.

“Calabar High had camped here at Mannings in the preseason and when they reached out to us, we were more than happy for the gesture,” she said, “what it said to us was that we are not alone in this and we know football can be used as a unifying force.”

Davidson said the game would allow them to see how far they have come since restarting training and she hoped “we can get out the people of Westmoreland to come out and get some sort of relief even for a few hours.”

There will be no charge for entry to the games but fans are asked to make a donation.

Parts of Westmoreland, including Savanna-la-Mar, were badly damaged and several buildings including historical structures at the school destroyed during the storm.

According to Davidson, the team was badly affected with at least two players losing their family homes and another 30 per cent or so losing roofs or suffering other structural damage to their homes, “but there were no injuries or deaths, just social disruption.”

The team was a guest of the Jamaica Football Federation for the Concacaf final round World Cup Qualifying game against Curacao in Kingston on Tuesday.

Davidson said a significant increase in taxi fares as well as ongoing difficulties being faced by families have resulted in turnout for training being inconsistent. However she said it “was getting more consistent as we progress.”

-Paul A Reid