TWO coaches have expressed disappointment after the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Champions Cup competition was cancelled, effectively bringing the senior high school football season to an end.

The Champions Cup, which sees school teams from both the Manning Cup and daCosta Cup competitions facing off against each other in a knockout format, was supposed to get underway on Tuesday.

The competition is usually played late in the schoolboy football season, but was rescheduled, along with the junior competitions, due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa in late October.

Clarendon-based Glenmuir High are the back-to-back reigning winners of the Champions Cup.

Raymond Watson, coach of Manning Cup finalists Jamaica College (JC), and Hector Wright, coach of Ben Francis Cup finalists Cornwall College, said they had been looking forward to the competition.

“I am disappointed,” Watson told the Jamaica Observer. “My players and coaching staff were looking forward to it being played.” He said Jamaica College were hoping to, “at least win some silverware this season”, and looking forward to a possible rematch against Manning Cup champions Excelsior High.

“[But] we have to abide by whatever the ruling authority decides to do,” the JC head coach added.

Wright, in his first season as Cornwall College head coach, echoed Watson’s sentiments.

“[I am] a bit disappointed. I really wanted the boys to get a taste of this elite competition, but such is life. Hopefully [next season] we can give another great account of ourselves and get the chance to represent the school and parish at the highest level,” said the Cornwall coach.

Prior to the cancellation there had been talks of expanding the Champions Cup, adding the finalists from both the urban Walker Cup and rural Ben Francis Cup competitions to the four top teams from both the urban Manning Cup and daCosta Cup tournaments.

However on Sunday, ISSA issued a press release that it was pulling the plug on the season, citing “complications” of staging the tournament “at this time of the year”.

The concise release said the decision was taken, “along with its stakeholders”, and said they were looking forward to next season’s staging.

— Paul A Reid

WRIGHT… I really wanted the boys to get a taste of this elite competition, but such is life