Oral Tracey | ISSA got it right

The 2018 schoolboy football season is drawing to a close, and it is inevitable that analyses and post-mortems of the various competitions will take place. More so this season because of the conspicuous changes made by the organising body, Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), to the long-standing Walker Cup and Ben Francis knockout competitions.

The loudest protests were aimed at the seemingly flawed principle of having the worst finishing teams that were eliminated in the second round of the Manning Cup and the teams that exited the daCosta Cup at the quarter-final round, contest the Walker Cup and Ben Francis Cup competitions, respectively. This effectively ruled out the top eight teams from both the Manning Cup and the daCosta Cup from winning these particular trophies, despite them having the chance to contest for the more prestigious Manning Cup, daCosta Cup, and Champions Cup competitions. The label of 'Losers Cups' was quickly affixed to

the two traditional knockout competitions.

The truth be told, however, the Walker Cup and Ben Francis Cups, in recent times, have become consolation prizes, made even worse by the advent of the FLOW Super Cup - now the ISSA Champions Cup. What ISSA did was to add some structure and formality to an already-existing reality.

The prestige and profile, plus the monetary reward that have been placed on Champions Cup since its inception, inclusive of the very concept of having the best of urban versus the best of rural tagline, gave this competition immediate and automatic legitimacy and acceptance, while conversely pushing the older knockout competitions even further down the pecking order.

Concerns about a structure that fosters inferior teams being gifted the opportunity to win titles, while better-performing, significantly superior teams are condemned to having trophyless seasons, seem quite legitimate. In fairness to ISSA, the changes to these competitions were logical and indeed justified.

ISSA President Dr Walton Small did also admit that the body will examine and possibly address that particular anomaly for next season, enhancing ISSA's reputation as a body that is prepared to listen and adapt.

DIP IN QUALITY

The stated objective of ensuring that the perennial scheduling challenges be resolved was also achieved. The health of the players as it relates to protection from overwork and exhaustion was at the centre of the changes. There have been very little if any complaints about those issues this season. Talk has emerged about a slight dip in the overall quality of the football on show, which appears to be well within the margins of the year-to-year fluctuation in play caused by the yearly turnover of players.

The competitions were nevertheless exciting, as reflected by the drama and spectacle of all the major finals.

The flagship moment of the season must be Cornwall College becoming the first daCosta Cup team to win the Champions Cup after defeating three of the four previous winners in Wolmer's, St George's College, and Jamaica College. This, added to the elimination of Kingston College by St Elizabeth Technical, all point to that elusive greater parity between the daCosta Cup teams and the Manning Cup teams, even if it's just for this season.

Kudus to the ISSA executive, led by outgoing President Dr Small, his heir apparent Keith Wellington, as well as the man in the trenches, competitions officer George Forbes. They again rose above the logistical and organisational challenges to present another near-flawless edition of Jamaica's premier amateur football leagues.

With one game to play, it has not been a perfect season, but it's been close enough, as ISSA, once again, has managed to get more things right than wrong.