Manning Cup

As both teams were in Group B, they will be replaced in the quarterfinal round by the third and fourth-placed teams from the group, Excelsior High and STATHS.

The new list of teams advancing to the quarterfinal round now reads: Jamaica College, Kingston Technical, Excelsior High, STATHS, Kingston College, Mona High, Charlie Smith, and St. Catherine High.

JC, Mona, STATHS, and St, Catherine High will be in Group 1 while KC, Excelsior, Charlie Smith, and Kingston Tech will be in Group 2.

Each team will play each other once and the top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.

January 5^th is the date schoolboy football fans will circle as defending champions Kingston College will begin their defence of their crown against Manning’s School at STETHS in a 3:00pm fixture.

At the same venue at 1:00pm, STATHS will do battle with Dinthill Technical.

Stadium East will host the other two quarterfinal matches on the day, with Charlie Smith locking horns with Clarendon College at 1:00pm and Jamaica College squaring off against Garvey Maceo at 3:00pm.

The winners will advance to the semi-finals to be played on Saturday, January 8^th at either Stadium East or the National Stadium with the final scheduled to be played on January 15^th.

The former footballer, basketball coach and all-around humanitarian, had been battling illness for some time and was hospitalized for two to three weeks in early April. He was eventually released but was admitted to hospital again on Sunday after complaining of not feeling well.

Hutchinson, one of the top schoolboy footballers of the 1970s, won the Manning Cup title with Tivoli Gardens Comprehensive High School in 1976 before winning the DaCosta Cup title with the near invincible Clarendon College team in 1977, playing alongside fellow schoolboy greats Lennie ‘Teacha Hyde, Oneil Russell, Wayne Wonder and Donovan ‘Che’ Wray.

The Clarendon College team was coached by the legendary Winston Chung-Fah, who died in 2018.

Later on, he would Hutchinson would become a coach for the Tivoli Gardens basketball team that won three championships in the early 2000s.

According to his nephew, Allan Jones, Hutchinson believed in his community of Tivoli Gardens and did his best to help those in need, raising money to cover tuition fees and providing other well-needed resources for the children in the community.

He is survived by nine children and his girlfriend Sharon Reid.

Between the 1980s and 1990s, Zaidie, a midfielder, was a staple in local football in Jamaica.

As a member of the St. George’s College Manning Cup team between 1980 and 1984, Zaidie was teammates with the likes of Ziggy Marley, Andrew Price, Christopher Morgan, Michael Forbes, Nicholas Zaidie, Brian Hamilton and Garfield Pearcy. Under the guidance of the late coach Dennis Zaidie, he won the coveted triple twice – Manning Cup, Nutrament Shield, and Olivier Shield in 1983 and the Manning Cup, Walker Cup and Olivier Shield in 1984.

Dennis Zaidie and Jackie Bell, who coached Premier League club Santos, would perish in a motor vehicle accident in Mexico in 1986 having gone there to watch a match in the FIFA World Cup.

Chris would go on to represent Jamaica during the 1994 World Cup campaign, playing six matches between 1992 and 1993.

Price, who is now the head coach at Jamaica Premier League club Humble Lion and three-time Manning Cup champions Calabar High School, has been close friends with Zaidie since they played against each other in Alberga Cup football in the late 1970s– Zaidie for St Peter and Paul, Price for Alpha.

“Chris was more than a teammate, he was a friend and a brother and somebody who I could depend on and he could on me,” Price recalled of Zaidie, who at the time of his death worked as a teacher in Miramar, Florida.

“We were close from we were kids and played Alberga Cup football. We ended up at George’s and as schoolboys played for Kingston Lions in the now defunct Caribbean semi-professional league and Boys Town FC.”

Zaidie is survived by his wife Debbie and two children.

Ryan Foster, Chairman Hydel Group of Schools, received the donation on behalf of the school. The donation is a timely fillip for the Hydel Group of Schools that is about to embark on an ambitious football programme aimed at making the school among the best in Jamaica.

The school recently hired veteran coach Devon Anderson, who will lead the initiative.

"Hydel Group of Schools is extremely elated by the support given by Champions Football Academy. Both institutions have partnered through sport as a social tool used for nation building,” said Damion Howell, the Director of Sports at Hydel and a member of the new board of directors.

“These gears will go a far way in restarting the sport at the school since the pandemic and we see this as a good way to encourage the next generation of footballers by providing much needed resources."

Hydel Group of Schools is not only entity to benefit from the largesse of Champion Football Academy, whose mission it is to enhance the lives of children in safe and supportive environments by providing innovative training programs and plant-based nutrition that prepare and inspire them to succeed.

 Champion Football Academy also dedicate their resources to ensuring that youth in under-served communities have greater access to quality programs and services that help promote healthy lifestyles, academic success, and strong leadership skills.

Driven by that mandate Champion Football Academy has provided year-round support in Payneland Jamaica. They also host annual football camps and make sizeable donations of gear and equipment donations tor primary and secondary schools, sports programs, and inner-city communities.

In the first semi-final, Jamaica College secured a comfortable 3-0 win over Charlie Smith.

JC took the lead through a clinical left-footed strike from Dwight Merrick in the 36^th minute after a brilliant bit of work from Tarick Ximines to set him up.

Ximines then got a goal of his own to double their lead in the 67^th minute and the scoring was completed by substitute Giovanni Mitto in the 92^nd minute.

Kingston College came from behind twice to secure a 4-2 win over St. Andrew Technical in the second semi-final.

STATHS took advantage of a defensive mistake by KC and took the lead in the sixth minute through captain Omar Reid.

Their lead didn’t last long as KC equalized in the 11^th minute through a right-footed strike from Jaheim Johnson.

A second defensive error by KC allowed Omar Laing to restore the lead for STATHS in the 21^st minute.

KC began the second half with sustained pressure and it paid off when Ronardo Burgher made it 2-2 with a clinical header in the 60^th minute.

They took the lead for the first time in the 69^th minute when substitute Louis Watson headed home from a brilliant cross from captain Jemone Barclay to make it 3-2.

Christopher Pearson got a fourth goal with a magnificent free kick in the 74^th minute to complete the scoring for KC and secure a 4-2 win and a spot in the final.

Jamaica College will be looking for their 31^st hold on the Manning Cup title while Kingston College will be looking for their 16^th in the final, which will be played on Saturday, January 22.

The respective competitions will have a different format for the coming season as, according to ISSA, for the first time in recent memory, the schoolboy football season will be divided into two segments with the preliminary rounds and quarterfinals scheduled to be completed before the Christmas Break with the knockout stages set for January 2022.

ISSA is also stipulating that it will be mandatory for all players and officials wishing to participate to have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine before the start of the competition. Failure to comply automatically renders the individual ineligible. No spectators will be allowed for at least the preliminary round of the competition.

Participating schools have also been granted approval to commence regular training activities along with joint training sessions amongst schools to facilitate preseason preparation, subject to the dictates of the Disaster Risk Management Act and final approval for such sessions by ISSA, a statement from ISSA said.

“ISSA will utilize the three weeks preceding the start of the competitions to fine-tune all execution plans with its various stakeholders, including the relevant Government Agencies,” the statement continued.

“ISSA thanks the Government of Jamaica for the confidence and trust placed in our organization. We implore all participants and the public in general, to offer us its support through their commitment to abiding by all the established and agreed protocols which facilitated the approval.”

In a statement released on Monday, ISSA said the decision was prompted by the spike in the number of cases of COVID-19 across the island. On Sunday, the government announced that there 116 new infections within a 24-hour period and that the number of cases islandwide had jumped to more than 1500.

“With the recently announced delayed start of the 2020-21 academic year due to the spike in positive Covid-19 cases, the Executive of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association has decided to cancel all sporting competitions scheduled for the Christmas Term of the 2020-21 academic year,” the ISSA statement said.

“Having previously proposed an October 16, 2020 restart to our competitions, ISSA will use the next eight weeks to re-assess the conditions under which schools will reopen and how they will operate. Subject to this assessment and the suitability of conditions, ISSA through consultations with its membership, will determine the list of competitions to be offered and a new timetable for the resumption of school sports.

“We would like to reassure all our stakeholders, that ISSA is cognizant of the role of organized sports in the physical, mental and psycho-social development of our teenaged high school population. As such, we are committed to ensuring that at the earliest possible opportunity, we will re-engage our students in our various competitions as we play our part in bringing back some sense of normalcy to their wholesome development.”

The Manning Cup, that is contested mainly by schools in Jamaica’s Corporate Area, was first played in 1909. It was not contested in 1911, 1944, 1954, 1960, 1966, 1972, 1973 and 1997. The DaCosta Cup for schools in rural Jamaica was first contested in 1950. There was no competition in 1954, 1960, 1966, 1972, 1973 and 1997.

Members of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), principals, members of JFF staff, and members of the media were on hand to see the presentation of plaques to the schools that won trophies in the recently concluded schoolboy football season and FIFA referee badges to the new crop of FIFA referees.

“As I congratulate these schools, I want to also extend congratulations to the staff members and principals because if they didn’t support these programs, the schools wouldn’t be doing very well,” said JFF president Michael Ricketts while addressing the gathering.

“Once again, I want to say a huge congratulations. I’m just absolutely excited at the prospects that I’m seeing after not playing for such a long time and the quality of play, I think, was at a premium,” he added.

President of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) Christopher Samuda also commented on the importance of ceremonies like these to highlight the outstanding performances of individuals while they are with us.

“We have a habit of recognizing people when they pass on, or when they have transitioned to another career. On behalf of the Jamaica Olympic Association, we want to congratulate the Jamaica Football Federation and all its stakeholders. This an event that should not perish and I have every conviction that it won’t,” he said.

The schools recognized were Manning Cup and Olivier Shield winners Kingston College, Walker Cup winners St. Catherine High, ISSA Champions Cup winners Clarendon College, DaCosta Cup winners Garvey Maceo High School and Ben Francis Cup winners Edwin Allen.

The referees awarded were Melvin Reid, Jermaine Yee Sing, Damian Williams, Richard Washington, Steffon Dewar, Neressa Goldson, Nicholas Anderson, Princess Brown, Ojay Duhaney, Odette Hamilton, Jassett Kerr, Oshane Nation, Damion Parchment and Stephanie Yee Sing. Eight of the 14 referees are currently on assignments overseas.

Goals from Worrell Nelson in the 2^nd minute, Beeko Smythe in the 21^st minute, and Tadane Williams in the 63^rd minute propelled them to a 3-1 win over former champions, St. Georges College, in the first match of a doubleheader at Stadium East.

Lamonth Rochester got the goal for St. Georges College in the 11^th minute.

Kingston Technical head coach, Shaun Charlton, pointed to his team’s discipline as a reason they were able to get the job done.

“We have discipline within the team and persons who want to show Jamaica, and by extension abroad, that there is talent in the inner city,” he said.

The second game of the doubleheader saw Kingston High beat Calabar 1-0 to register their first win of the season.

Bridgeport beat Charlie Smith 1-0 in the other group game at the Spanish Town Prison Oval.

Kingston Technical remains on top of the group with nine points followed by Charlie Smith in second with six and St. Georges College in third, also with six.

Meanwhile, in zone B Dacosta Cup action, a doubleheader at Llandilo saw one goal being scored between four teams.

Green Pond and Petersfield played out a 0-0 draw in the first encounter while the second game saw Godfrey Stewart secure a 1-0 over former champions, Rusea’s.

Frome Technical beat Green Island 4-0 in the 3:30 kick-off at Wespow Park.

Frome now moves to the top of the zone with nine points followed by Mannings in second with seven and Petersfield in third, also with seven points.

In zone D, Bellefield thrashed Alston 7-0 and Manchester beat Belair 2-0 in a doubleheader at Manchester.

In the other zone D game, Christiana secured a 2-1 win over Holmwood at Kirkvine.

Christiana still leads zone D with 10 points. Manchester and Bellefield are second and third with seven and five points respectively.

In Zone F, Garvey Maceo maintained their perfect record in the group stage so far with a 3-0 win over Central High at home.

The second game of the day at Garvey Maceo saw Vere Technical get a 2-1 win over Foga Road.

Garvey Maceo leads zone F with 12 points and Vere are second with seven.

McGrath beat York Castle 4-1 in the first game of a zone H doubleheader at Drax Hall.

Charlemont got a 5-2 win over St. Mary High in the second game.

With the win, Charlemont move to the top of the zone with eight points while Dinthill sits second on seven and Ocho Rios are third on five.

KC now leads Group 2 with six points from their two games.

Trailing Kingston College with three points from two games is Excelsior High School, which suffered a 2-1 defeat to Charlie Smith High that was getting their first win of the round.

Kingston Technical have yet to register a point after losing their first two games.

In Group 1 play on Tuesday, defending champions Jamaica College became the first team to advance to the semi-finals with a hard-fought 5-3 triumph over ST Andrew Technical High School (STATHS).

JC remains atop of the group with six points from their two games ahead of STATHS on three and Mona, also on three, after their crucial 2-0 win over St. Catherine High.

STATHS and Mona will do battle to see who joins JC in the semis.

Over in the DaCosta Cup, Dinthill Technical and Edwin Allen both got wins in Zone 1 action on Tuesday to set up a winner-take-all game to decide which of the two will advance to the semi-finals.

Dinthill defeated William Knibb 3-0 while Edwin Allen comfortably got by Christiana High 4-0 in a double-header at Manchester High.

Dinthill and Edwin Allen now both have six points from two matches with Dinthill currently ahead with a goal difference of 7 to 6 for Edwin Allen.

Mannings got their second win in Zone 2 with a 6-0 thrashing of Happy Grove at Drax Hall to remain atop the zone with six points from two games, two points ahead of Munro College, which outscored Vere Technical 4-3 and now have four points.

Happy Grove currently sits third with one point while Vere is fourth with none.

This is another scenario where the winner of the match between Mannings and Munro will advance to the semi-finals.

On Wednesday, Garvey Maceo and St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) played to a 2-2 draw at Kirkvine while Frome hammered St. Thomas Technical 9-2 at Drax Hall in Zone 3 action.

This was Garvey Maceo’s first draw this season after winning their first eight matches.

STETHS and Garvey Maceo both have four points after two games with STETHS leading the zone on goal-difference of five against two for Garvey Maceo.

Frome is third with three points and St. Thomas Technical are fourth with none.

STETHS will play Frome in their final match while Garvey Maceo will play St. Thomas Technical.

At Manchester High, Clarendon College got a 2-0 win over Manchester to get their second straight win in Zone 4 and move to six points.

After originally finishing fourth in Group B behind Camperdown, Tivoli and Excelsior, they advanced to the quarterfinal round as a second-placed team after Camperdown and Tivoli were disqualified from the competition for using ineligible players.

On Friday at Jamaica College, they played out a 1-1 draw with Mona High to advance from Group 1 along with defending champions Jamaica College to the last four of the competition.

JC finished with a perfect nine points from three games with a 3-1 win over St. Catherine at Stadium East.

On Saturday, Kingston College (KC) secured the top spot in Group 2 with a 2-0 win over Excelsior also at Jamaica College.

Charlie Smith beat Kingston Technical4-1 in the other Group 2 game to advance alongside KC.

KC will play STATHS in one semi-final and JC will play Charlie Smith in the other.

Meanwhile, Mona, Excelsior, Kingston Technical and St. Catherine High will contest the Walker Cup.

In the daCosta Cup, Dinthill Technical and The Mannings School advanced to the semi-finals on Friday.

Dinthill won Zone 1 after beating Edwin Allen 1-0 at Drax Hall, their third win in as many games.

Christiana beat William Knibb 3-2 in the other Zone 1 match at Drax Hall.

Mannings played to a 1-1 draw with Munro College at STETHS to finish with seven points from their three matches and win Zone 2.

Vere Technical and Happy Grove played a seven-goal thriller in the other Zone 2 game at STETHS on the day, with the former prevailing 4-3.

On Saturday, Garvey Maceo pulled off something special to get into the semi-finals.

Entering their final match against St. Thomas Technical at Kirkvine, trailing STETHS by three goals on goal difference, Garvey Maceo produced a massive 12-0 victory over St Thomas Technical to win Zone 3 and advance.

STETHS tried their best with a 6-0 win over Frome Technical at home but it wasn’t enough.

Garvey Maceo and STETHS both finished with seven points but Garvey Maceo’s massive win meant they ended with a goal difference of +16 whereas STETHS, with a big win of their own, ended up with a goal difference of +11.

Edwin Allen, Christiana, Munro College, Vere Technical, STETHS and Frome, as second and third-placed finishers from the respective groups,  have all qualified for the Ben Francis Cup.

The final two qualifiers as well as the final DaCosta Cup semi-finalists will be determined after rescheduled Zone-4 games on Tuesday when Clarendon College play McGrath High and Manchester High and Cornwall College meet.

Excelsior and STATHS had originally finished third and fourth in Group B of the Manning Cup preliminary round but advanced after Camperdown and Tivoli were disqualified from the tournament for using ineligible players.

STATHS won their Group 1 opener 4-1 over St. Catherine High on Friday while Excelsior High beat Kingston Technical 3-1 in their Group 2 opener on Saturday.

Jamaica College beat Mona High 2-0 in the other Group 1 match on Friday and Kingston College got by Charlie Smith 3-0 in the other Group 2 match on Saturday.

The quarter-final round of the DaCosta Cup also got underway on Saturday with Dinthill Technical blanking Christiana High 4-0. Meanwhile, Edwin Allen beat William Knibb 2-0 in the second Zone 1 game on the day.

Mannings were the only Zone 2 winners Saturday, beating Vere Technical 3-2.

Munro College, which have struggled for form played to a 1-1 draw with Happy Grove in the other Zone game on the day.

Munro entered that game on the back of two straight losses in their Zone C playoff games against Lacovia and B.B. Coke.

In Zone 3, Garvey Maceo continued their fantastic form this season by beating Frome 2-0 while STETHS easily got past St. Thomas Technical 6-1.

Elsewhere, defending champions Clarendon College and Manchester High got wins in Zone 4 action.

Clarendon College defeated Cornwall College 2-1 while Manchester High ran out 4-0 winners over McGrath High.

Quarterfinal action in both competitions resumes on Tuesday.

Jaheem Bryan scored the winning goal for Kingston Technical that see them climb to fourth place in the group with three points, two more than Jamaica College that have one point from their two games so far. JC drew their opening match against Calabar High School 0-0.

Elsewhere in the group, Calabar secured a 5-0 win over Bridgeport in the 12:00 kick-off at Stadium East thanks to a Darren Chinnon hat trick.

In the 3:00 pm match at the same venue, Demar Brown got both goals as Charlie Smith defeated Kingston High 2-0.

Over in the rural DaCosta Cup competition, DeCarteret College and Bellefield High played to an exciting 2-2 draw in Group D action at the Manchester High School Field.

DeCarteret’s Alex Muschamp opened the scoring in the 57^th minute with an acrobatic finish off a corner kick. DC doubled their lead two minutes later when team captain Douglas Whitely scored with a free-kick from beyond the half-line, the ball taking an awkward bounce over the head of Bellefield goalkeeper Chad Wright.

Bellefield would eventually rally and cut the deficit in half in the 70^th minute through a tidy finish from Mark Rowe. They levelled the scores in the 87^th minute through a Renardo Forquharson penalty.

DeCarteret College assistant coach, Merrick Plummer, put the result down to a loss in concentration by his team.

“We’re not happy because we were leading 2-0 until the last 20 minutes," he said. "We lost focus and the concentration level dropped so we ended up giving away the two late goals.”

Bellefield head coach Rayon Johnson regretted missed chances by his team.

“It’s not a happy moment to come out with a point. We started out well, created a few chances that we should have scored but it’s just unfortunate that we conceded and everything went on its head,” he said.

In other results:

 Group B

Green Pond 4 Godfrey Stewart 0

Mannings School 3 Green Island 1

Petersfield 3 Rusea’s 1

Group C

Munro College 1 Maggotty High 0

STETHS 0 B.B. Coke 0

 Group D

Christiana 5 Belair 1

Holmwood Technical 0 Manchester High 0

 Group F

Kemps Hill 1 Foga Road 3

Old Harbour 1 Garvey Maceo 2

 Group H

McGrath High 2 Charlemont 2

York Castle 3 St. Mary High 2

Ocho Rios High 0 Dinthill Technical 0

In recognition of their success, the student athletes and team officials celebrated in a relaxed atmosphere, where they noted the importance of balancing the books with play, highlighting the strong support received at the institution.

Trevin Nairne, the team’s manager and former Wolmer’s Boys’ Manning Cup player, who received a full scholarship to study in the United States, expressed his pride.

“I am very impressed with this group - 11 boys passing six subjects and more. Wolmer's has always been an institution which stresses excellence in all aspects of the student's life. We are renowned for this kind of performance and the principal and teachers continue to reinforce and encourage this culture of excellence,” Nairne said.

“They were within touching distance of winning the Manning Cup, losing on penalties in the semi-finals, and then performing excellently in the CSEC exams but their performance in the CSEC far trumps the exploits on the field.”

Ryan Foster, an old boy sponsor, said: "The performance of the boys is really commendable. The management team is extremely proud of their accomplishments and we will continue to support them along their journey of life. It was hard work from the team to ensure that these boys were not only prepared physically for the football season, but also mentally for their exams.

“We supported with extra classes, exam fees, nutrition, school fees and just general motivation and encouragement. We not only want to see them excel on the field of play, but we have built up a general bond with all, they are family."

Goalkeeper Denzil Smith, who passed seven of eight subjects, said the team’s management “played a great role”, also by facilitating extra classes for fifth formers and SAT sessions for sixth formers.

“It is very important (academic achievement) because we attend Wolmer’s Boys’ School and we have to keep it as high as possible. Also, I want to get a scholarship to go to a college in the US. So my manager always tells all of us to ‘do your best so that you can get a scholarship to go overseas’,” he added:

The goalie, who also got picked on Jamaica’s U15, then U17 teams, got a peek at professional football with trial in Spain.

“It was a tremendous experience,” said Smith. “The most important lesson I learnt was to make sure you are always early, always be on time.”

Rivaldo Mitchell, the team’s captain and Jamaica’s U17 vice-captain, has “dreams to actually play in the English Premier League”, noting that he got his leadership skills from his father, Jermaine, “because growing up I’ve always seen him leading, I’ve never seen him following anybody before”.

He scored 14 goals in the Manning Cup and also plays for Portmore United Football Club in the local Premier League.  Mitchell passed six CSEC subjects.

“It’s very important for athletes to do good in academics because it also helps them during the course of life. You never know what can happen. You can develop a bad injury and you don’t want to fall back off everything and all the work that you did while you were young, so it’s really important to have an academic background behind your sports.”

Commenting on team management, the skipper said: “They always target the mental side of the players, always show us and let us understand why we need to do our schoolwork. That motivated all the players on the team to get their subjects and to try and do well in school.”

Wolmer’s Boys’ presented a culture change, possibly life-changer, for striker Orlando Russell, who transferred from Donald Quarrie High into fourth form and scored 11 goals while providing nine assists last Manning Cup season.

“It took some time to fit in. I sat out one year and observed and realised what I should do and could not do,” said Russell. “Everything is different; attitude to school work, you know that you can’t be late for class, you’ve to always be in class, everything is just different. Going to Wolmer’s taught me a lot. In school you have the teachers helping you, so you have to know how to balance the work, and after school you do the extra work and then you get back to the field.

“I feel very excited because leaving from a lower performing school to a higher performing school and doing very good I’m so proud of myself and I’ve made my mother and my family proud. I’m very happy right now,” expressed Russell, who earned five passes.

Sixteen-year-old Jhavier Lynch earned seven grade ones - in Mathematics, English ‘A’, Social Studies, Technical Drawing, Information Technology, Principles Of Accounts, Principles Of Business, plus a Grade three in Physics.

“I feel elated with my achievement, knowing that I came to the school with a good GSAT average. It’s good knowing that I followed through with CSEC and obtained good grades,” said Lynch.

“It was a very different procedure, with the whole pandemic and everything. But with the guidance of teachers, school, coaches, everybody, they did what they could to make the process easy. The management, during the football season, they were very flexible with me going to extra classes. So I would leave training, go to classes and if we had camps for matches, they would allow me to go to class and come back and sleep with the team,” Lynch pointed out.

“They encouraged us to study all the time, not to be late with our assignments, always be ahead because we always had to do more with missing classes for matches and stuff like that. They always promoted going ahead and doing what we needed, building good relationships with our teachers, so they could also make the process easier for us.”

Technical Director of the football programme, Rudolph Speid, commended the players.

"The boys did well on and off the field, said Speid. “This group of boys has not only shown resilience on the field, but great focus and determination to excel in their exams. Well done."