‘LOSING FOCUS’?

THE NUMBER of international players present in the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel senior Manning and daCosta Cup football competitions is growing and this has sparked many questions, such as ‘should Jamaicans be concerned?’.

Head coach of Camperdown High School’s Manning Cup team, Donovan Lofters, said he is concerned about this because he believes opportunities for local players are being stifled.

“I am not liking where it’s going, it is becoming an international season. There are other schools bringing players from all over the Caribbean to play, students who are actually a part of their national teams, into schools (here) for them to play,” Lofters observed.

“I think we are losing the focus as schools and as coaches because it (ISSA competitions) is supposed to be a part of our development,” Lofters told The Sunday Gleaner. “If you look at the Boys’ (and Girls) Champs, there are a lot of Guyanese, St Lucians (and) Africans running. Our born and bred youths are suffering because we are giving away their places so we need to be focused on what we have here and to develop them,” urged Lofters.

EARN YOUR PLACE

Many-time champions Jamaica College, which has dominated the Manning Cup in recent years, has a number of international players in their team this season. The school’s head coach, Davion Ferguson, does not share Lofters’ view. In fact, Ferguson believes more opportunities are being earned from taking on international players.

“I don’t believe in just giving people opportunities, I want you to earn your opportunity. So whether you are Jamaican, or Trinidadian, or from St Vincent, Cuban, Mexican, whatever, it doesn’t matter, you have to earn that opportunity,” the JC coach said.

“Now what we have to ensure is that these youngsters, at no point in time, feel entitled whether they are locals or overseas (players), because we are not doing well for their development if that’s the case,” Ferguson said. “What we have to do is ensure that they work hard for the opportunities.

HEALTHY COMPETITION

“Others are going to push them; competition is always a healthy thing in terms of developing one’s self talent-wise,” Ferguson continued. “I don’t think it is stifling the opportunities of others. As a matter of fact, I think it is actually helping them because I can see even in my group when the youngsters came in (from overseas) we saw a new burst of life, a new fire in the belly of some of the players that we have here because in their minds they are saying that ‘I’m not gonna allow anybody to come here and take my game’.”

ISSA President Keith Wellington said schools taking on international players is not something Jamaicans should be overly concerned about once the schools are following the rules.

“I do not believe that they (local players) need to be overly concerned (because) our competition caters for more than 4,000 players. If we are talking about football I think that is enough to facilitate people who can fit into our school systems (and) if the school is not overpopulated then the numbers that are likely to come from abroad are not likely to be significant in terms of impact on opportunities for our players,” Wellington reasoned.

“What we want to do at ISSA is to ensure that these legitimate students are participating,” he said. “The same rules that govern local players are the same rules that apply to international or regional players – the age requirement, the academic requirement and the requirement to sit out if they are beyond a particular age.”

Wellington, who is also principal of St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), which participates in the rural daCosta Cup, said there are no restrictions about the number of international players a school can use on their team.

“There’s currently no limit in terms of the number of players who are not born in Jamaica that can play on a team,” he said.

“It is important to note that all our schools have students who are not Jamaican. Some have grown up here, some have come here specifically for high school (and) for different reasons, so we would have to be careful if we speak about putting (limits) on numbers based on who was born here,” the ISSA president emphasised.

Wellington said that allowing regional players into their competitions is another means of Jamaica contributing to Caribbean integration.

CARIBBEAN INTEGRATION

“It’s another opportunity for our students to interact with people from different cultures and, in particular, those from our region are really our brothers and sisters, and so by having them in our classrooms and in our sporting arena we’re actually contributing to the integration of our families across the regional space,” he explained.

“I don’t think there are many negatives. I think where we have an issue is where the students are being ‘used’, if that is the case, by schools just for footballing purposes. And I don’t think that is the case,” Wellington said.

There are also concerns related to funding and affordability, which restricts some Jamaican schools from importing international players. While some have expressed the view that this is unfair, daCosta Cup chairman, Linvern Wright, said this should not be an issue.

“There are some schools that are strong in sports and believe that they want to always be competing. If they have the resources to do that I don’t know that you can have an issue with that,” Wright said.

“There are some schools who are investing in football, some who are investing in other sports. Schools have their traditions and culture, once they don’t go unethical about it I don’t think we should have an issue,” Wright said to The Sunday Gleaner.

Wright, who is also president of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS), said what principals should ensure is that bringing in international students does not fit into the win-at-all-cost mentality.

“We would have to do our thorough investigation to determine that kind of thing (win-at-all-cost). But I don’t know that those things (migrating players) have helped schools over the years … because I think we have a lot of talented Jamaicans,” Wright said.

He noted further that international student athletes playing in Jamaica might also give those players opportunities they might not have in their country.

“The quality of competition here actually raises the bar for them and raises a level of competitiveness. And if here (Jamaica) is a vehicle for them to get scholarships overseas I find it fine,” said Wright.

“I think it shines on Jamaica in a positive sense of how well sports is developed here, that other Caribbean countries are looking to us,” he added.

Wright, though, said he does not disregard that there are arguments on both sides of this matter.

“But then, Jamaica is so strong in sports that we might be worried about something that is not an issue.”

sharla.williams@gleanerjm.com