ISSA may stage schoolboy football during Easter term
Published:Wednesday | August 26, 2020 | 12:09 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) President Keith Wellington has hinted that his organisation will be looking at staging some schoolboy football competitions in the final two terms of the school year, following the decision to cancel all high school sports scheduled for the rest of the year.
In a release on Monday, ISSA said the cancellation is a result of the recent upsurge in the number of positive COVID-19 cases locally, with the country recording a further 83 positive cases on Monday to push the total to 1,612. Recoveries are at 819 while there have been 16 deaths.
“The decision is reasonable, with the COVID-19 cases and everything else it would have affected. I suspect there will be different opinions as to what we should have done or what we should be doing. But I don’t think there are many persons who could provide any assurance that we could have a competition any time between now and December that would be safe for the kids to participate in,” Wellington said.
He said the organisation is hoping to salvage some competitions, like schoolboy football, and reschedule them between January and June of next year. But that would largely depend on how much the escalating coronavirus situation improves over the next couple of months.
“We will look at what competitions we can stage in the last two school terms, from January until the end of the school year. We will use the next two months just to make that assessment. But I don’t think we can have Manning and daCosta cups in their customary forms, playing over three months, but we will look at what is possible and what is available in terms of time and safety measures,” he stated.
Wellington added that as ISSA president, St Elizabeth Technical High principal and an avid sports fan, the decision to cancel sports this term hurts him in more ways than one. However, he believes no high school sports will be possible unless things improve dramatically. “I am suffering from all the different angles. But I understand we have to get back to some semblance of normality,” he said. Dave Myrie, principal of Kingston College, the reigning boys’ athletics and Manning Cup champions, said that although it may disappoint some, the decision to cancel the events is fully warranted.
“The health and safety of everyone is of paramount concern, so the cancellation, in my view, is a very responsible position for ISSA to take. I have no issue with the cancellation because the loss of one life is not worth any competition being put on.
“Plus, with the spike we are seeing, and I believe there is more to come, we have to be on the side of caution. Some of the kids may be disappointed but when you think about it, the implications would be far too much and far too serious for us to risk,” he said.
He added that there is also serious doubts over these competitions being played next year. “One terms is out [already] and we don’t know what is going to happen. So in essence, carrying over into next term is all up in the air. I could see this (pandemic) having an impact on competitions for at least the next two terms,” he added.