Schoolboy football season launched today
Published:Wednesday | September 1, 2010 | 6:01 PM
The 2010 schoolboy football in Jamaica season was launched today at the Terra Nova Hotel in St Andrew with telecommunications firm Digicel extending its sponsorship for another three years.
The season will kick off on Saturday, September 11 at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay with the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association/Pepsi/Digicel DaCosta Cup and Manning Cup competitions.
There will be a triple-header at the venue along with an opening ceremony.
The opening match will feature defending Manning Cup champions St George’s College against St Jago, followed by two daCosta Cup games, defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High School facing Lacovia in Zone ‘F’ and 2008 champions St James playing Spot Valley in Zone ‘A’.
The Manning Cup features 42 schools divided into six groups. The preliminary round ends on October 21. The Walker Cup knockout competition is scheduled to begin on October 27 with the semi-finals on October 30 and the final on November 27 if the schools are not in the Manning Cup final.
Seventy-three schools divided into 12 Zones from ‘A’ to ‘L’ will contest the DaCosta Cup. The first round ends on October 16 with the Ben Francis knockout scheduled to start on October 20. The semifinals will take place on October 27 and the final on October 30.
Both DaCosta Cup and Manning Cup winners are guaranteed $175,000, while the beaten finalists will walk away with $75,000 each.
The organisers are expecting a competitive season. However, Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association, president Dr Walton Small is warning supporters not to bring the game in disrepute.