JC hit with points deduction after using ineligible player in Manning Cup
Published:Saturday | September 23, 2023 | 12:09 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
President of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), Keith Wellington, says his organisation has been doing all it can to prevent the use of ineligible players in its schoolboy football competitions and insists the situation is not as prevalent as some have argued.
Defending Manning Cup champions Jamaica College (JC) have lost three points for the use of an ineligible player in the opening game of the season against Tivoli High School at the National Stadium on September 9.
Though declining to speak on the specific situation with the Old Hope Road school, Wellington offered that ISSA is very mindful of the need to ensure its competitions are run with integrity and equity and therefore it is their intention to ensure, as best as possible, that the rules and regulations are respected by all parties.
“We have been trying our very best to ensure our stakeholders are aware of the rules, so that coaches and management can assist each other in ensuring that everybody knows what is expected of them. We have been trying to ensure that our registration system is designed in such a way, that it assists the schools while they are doing their registration. So when there may be uncertainties that they are unaware of, the system will provide fail-safe measures so that these instances in which schools are not aware of the rules, the system can capture the breaches,” he said.
However, while some argue that many schools are finding loopholes to exploit the system without ISSA’s knowledge, Wellington insists he only knows of cases they have dealt with in the past and that all credible cases brought before their disciplinary committee have been addressed accordingly.
“Every time we are aware of situations like these that can be proven to be true, we have acted on it. I am sure you will be able to find cases like these that we have dealt with in the past. But as far as we know and have been able to prove, the cases that you (public) are aware of, are the cases that we are aware of.”
Although incidents like these threaten the integrity of the league, Wellington said it hasn’t cast a shadow on the season and that they are happy they were able to detect the breach early into the competition.
“It hasn’t (dampened) competition. The good thing is that it happened early and we were able to capture it without it have any real chance of having a significant bearing on the outcome of the competition. We do not want to see the competition being decided in the boardroom and therefore as soon as we are able to identify these breaches, we want to resolve them without it having a significant impact on the final outcome of the competition,” he stated.
INVESTIGATION
An ISSA release yesterday stated that its disciplinary committee met and investigated the alleged use of an ineligible player in the Manning Cup opener by JC against Tivoli High. Following the investigation JC were found guilty of using an ineligible player in the game.
As a result the committee ruled that JC should be deducted three points, which were awarded to Tivoli along with a score of 3-0. Also the player remains ineligible to participate in the remainder of the 2023 schoolboy football competition.
With the deduction in points, JC dropped from leadership of Zone B to fourth with three points. Tivoli now head the zone with seven points.
Attempts to get a response on the issue from the JC camp proved futile, with team manager Ian Forbes insisting he needed more information before he could respond.