'Nothing can be done now'- ISSA bars nine schools from Champs for missing deadline

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

St George's College and the eight other schools that missed last Friday's registration deadline for the March 30-April 2 Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletic Championships will definitely miss this year's 101st staging of the spectacle at the National Stadium.

The other affected schools are Morant Bay High, which, ironically, was actually a drop-off spot for other teams in that region, Garvey Maceo, Innswood, Norman Manley, Annotto Bay, Tarrant, Frome, and Anchovy.

While there will definitely be no exceptions to the rules which bar a school from participation once the deadlines are missed, there is, however, consideration for a possible reformation to the regulations.

ISSA boss Dr Walton Small, who is also the principal at defending Boys' champions Wolmer's High School for Boys, shared his sentiments while empathising with the students from the affected institutions and imploring administrators to pay greater attention to their roles and responsibilities.

"Nothing can be done now (for the affected students/schools), but one of the things that I will be taking back to the principals right now is, the system that is in place really punishes the children, they are the ones getting the hard end of the stick," Small reasoned.

"There may be some reformation. One of the things that we as principals will have to look at is what we can put in place to correct this. I can't tell you what that may be now, but it's something we have to look at," Small continued.

Participation

"I would like the students to understand that it's unfortunate that they will have to suffer the consequences for the misgivings of the adults around them, and, therefore, for them, my heart goes out, but we have to be consistent in what we do," said Small from his office yesterday. "If we seriously value the participation of the students then we have to go all out to ensure that the deadlines are met and everything that needs to be taken care of is done."

St George's College, with the likes of high jump standout Kemarki Absolom, are certainly the team with the highest profile that has been affected. It should also be noted that the 1914 and 1925 champions' participation at this year's Penn Relays may also be in jeopardy because of their non-participation at Champs.

Small was eager to point out that there were more than enough opportunities for administrators to get their teams registered for the meet.

"We had a principal's meeting in January and at that meeting, the dates and deadlines were discussed, and in addition to that, we had regional meetings all over the island afterwards," said Small. "Incidentally, the deadline for the entries was Thursday, but we extended the late entry to Friday."

The ISSA deals with these cases virtually on a yearly basis and this isn't the first time that a high-profile case has popped up. In the '70s, the dominant Vere Technical team, under the stewardship of Ben Francis, was barred from participating because of a similar situation, as well as the Dinthill team that featured the outstanding long jump and 100m athlete, Elva Goulbourne.

"ISSA cannot be inconsistent in its operations because last year and over the years, a number of schools were excluded because of late entry, and to do otherwise this year would be inconsistent. If you are late, you are late," Small closed.