Focus on Boys’ Town for 2019 Magnum KSAFA league kick-off

Former national kingpins Boys’ Town are expected to grab major attention when the 2019 Magnum Kingston and St Andrew Football Association (KSAFA) Super League and Major League competitions – to be played at night-time – kicks off tomorrow with a double-header at Harbour View Mini Stadium.

Boys’ Town, the three-time National Premier League champions, will be tackling Rockfort FC in the feature contest at 8:30 p.m. This matchup will be preceded by a clash between last season’s beaten finalists, Brown’s Town, who will face Central Kingston at 3 p.m.

The winners of the Magnum KSAFA Super League competition automatically earn a play-off spot among the four Confederation champions, to challenge for two spots to the Premier League. And given their history, pedigree and renowned battling qualities, many are expecting the Red Brigade of Trench Town to be among those fighting for a premiership spot.

However, Andrew Price, head coach of Boys’ Town, expressed caution while highlighting the youthfulness of his squad.

REBUILDING STAGE

Price said: “We’re in a rebuilding stage … we’re focusing on the youths. We have several players who have matriculated from our Under-17 and Under-20 programmes. We have a few senior players, like our captain, Michael Campbell, who will be helping to guide them through the transition phase.

“We expect them to learn through the transition period and still give their best in the Super League. Once they go out there and play at their best, they’ll give a good account of themselves,” he added.

With reference to the Premier League, Price indicated it is a game-by-game situation.

He said: “We’re going to take it one game at a time and see how the team progresses. After doing all of that, if it presents an opportunity to go back in the Premier League we’ll grab it with both hands. But we’re quite realistic of our situation and we’ll take it in stride.”

A major feature of the Magnum KSAFA Super League is that it will be played at nights, and with double-headers on three days each week – Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays. This follows a recent trend, which began with Friday night double-headers, and is similar to the days when Corporate Area football’s Major League was king and featured double-headers and triple-headers inside the National Stadium.

SPECTATOR TURNOUT

“The concept this year [is] we’re going night football for the Super League competition. We’re going to be playing three days each week, with double-headers on Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays and the Major League will be played on the usual Saturdays and Sundays,” said Wayne Shaw, KSAFA’s president.

“The reason why we’re going night football is that spectator turnout has been poor when we’re having matches at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. People have to work, times are very difficult now so when we’re keeping a match at 6:30 p.m. we’ll get more spectators, more people coming out to watch football,” Shaw continued, noting the chance to get more working people flowing through the turnstiles.

Commenting on Boys’ Town, he reasoned that instant Premier League return will not be easy.

“The KSAFA Super League is very competitive. We all know the tradition of Boys’ Town; with coach Andrew Price they’re going to try to go right back in the Premier League for the 2019-2020 season, but it won’t be so easy because Barbican, who were eliminated in the play-offs last year by Mount Pleasant and Dunbeholden, they still have a strong team, and Real Mona have done a lot of recruitment. They’ve quite a few new players, players from Maverley-Hughenden Football Club who will not be playing in this year’s competition,” explained Shaw.