WESTERN SPORTS - Samsung lauded for grass-roots initiative

Paul Clarke, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

After the successful staging of the inaugural Samsung Cup, a football championship for urban and rural primary and preparatory schools held late last year, Wayne Robinson, president of the All-island Prep/Primary Schools Association, is heaping praise on the electronics company.

Robinson called the decision to stage the championship a "seminal move" and a "critical decision" that has helped to move Jamaica's young football players in the right direction.

The Corporate Area's Holy Family Primary won the national title after stopping Irwin Primary from St James 3-1 on penalties in the final (1-1 after regulation time), bringing to an exciting conclusion six weeks of play across the country.

Another Corporate Area-based school, Quest Preparatory, took third place, with a comfortable 4-1 victory over St James' Corinaldi Avenue Primary.

Now that that the championship has been decided, Robinson is adamant that Samsung remain the sustaining force behind the project.

"Samsung has the vision. We hope to have them with us for as long a time as we are here because Samsung is no ordinary sponsor. They have seen the value in Jamaica and have put their money here. They are the major sponsors of the Diamond League track and field events yearly and are major sponsors of big football clubs across the world," he said.

CONTESTED IN OTHER COUNTRIES

The Samsung Cup is also contested in the Dominican Republic and North America and is huge in terms of the sale of its varied high-end products worldwide, employing approximately 270,000 people across 79 countries, with annual sales of US$187.8 billion.

"We are happy that they invested in our football," said Robinson as he attempted to place Samsung's value into perspective.

Football across all age groups locally has seen a fair deal of investment and a number of local companies - like Milo and the Victoria Building Society - have aided the development of the beautiful game in schools.

Robinson believes that Samsung's move has filled a void and will now create the atmosphere in which the sport can thrive.

The inaugural tournament consisted of 48 preparatory and primary schools, with players aged eight to 11, for a total of 672. They were divided between urban and rural regions, each further subdivided into four zones, with six teams per zone. A number of young stars were unearthed throughout the season for each region.

In the urban region, Samsung Cup champions Holy Family Primary had a number of excellent players such as all-island MVP Rojaughn Joseph; team captain Justin Dunn; goalkeeper Rijon Harrison; and ace players Delroy Jones, Amain Brady, and Charles Tate.

Mona Prep's Yared McDonald and Duncan McKenzie were also among the young stars in this region, as well as Timar Dunn of Lannaman's Preparatory, and Quest Preparatory's Jaheim Rose, and André Burgess.

The runner-up rural team, Irwin Primary, boasts leading players as team captain and rural region MVP Conroy Allen, Malaiko Holness, Kevon Cunningham, Justin Shaw, and Andane Burnett.

St James Preparatory had team captain and exemplar Anil Budall leading them to many successes, and Howard Cooke Primary's Alex Forbes also dazzled many with his extraordinary skills.

"The hope is to get them running an all-island championship of this magnitude on an unprecedented scale, and so it is extremely important that a company like Samsung, with the wherewithal and branding, stay with us on this project," added Robinson.

"In fact, we are looking for a real long-term partnership with the brand so that our players and young people can achieve through the strong and solid start they would have in the Samsung Cup."