With the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) schoolboy football competitions serving as a feeder for the country's youth programmes, President Keith Wellington believes it is only fair that the schools' efforts are recognised when their respective players are called up for national duties.

Wellington's aired his grievances, as he is of the view that when Manning and daCosta Cup players are mentioned for national duties, they are recognised by their club affiliation and not necessarily by the schools they represent. 

As such, he called on the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to be mindful of this and, by extension, to show the schools and ISSA more respect for their contributions in nurturing and developing these young talents.

“It would be nice when our national youth teams are named; you recognise the schools that these young men come from because we invest so much in them,” Wellington said during the schoolboy football competitions launch at the Stadium East on Wednesday.

“No disrespect to Mr [Rudolph] Speid and other club owners but when a young man turns up to attend national training, the first place he goes is to his coach or principal to say ‘Sir, I don’t have a boots’ or ‘I need fair to go to camp.’

“So give us a little respect and at least say that this boy played for Clarendon College or Mona High in the ISSA competitions because the truth is, without it, as bad Jamaica’s football is now, it would be worse. I’m asking our partners, the JFF, to give us some credit,” he added.

Wellington also urged the Michael Ricketts-led JFF to do their part in assisting ISSA to improve the schoolboy football product.

“Help our competitions be better. Train more referees so we don’t have to take our kids out of school on a Monday to play a match because we have to be spreading the games over five or six days of the week — focus on that,” a seemingly peeved Wellington stated.

ISSA President Keith Wellington accepts a symbolic cheque from Restaurants of Jamaica's brand manager, Andrei Roper.

That said, the ISSA boss has high hopes that this season, scheduled to kick off on September 7, will surpass expectations, as he hinted at some improvements to come.

"I think that if we are to grow the product, we have to look at innovative ways each year of changing the landscape, especially where support is concerned, not just from sponsors but from the public. The monopoly doesn't work in today's world, and so we have to look at what we can do differently to ensure that people remain interested in the sport, not just to play it but to participate as spectators and so on," Wellington shared.

"And so every year we try and do things differently. We will be doing some things differently that weren't announced today, but I'm sure if you visit our social media pages over the next few days, you'll see a difference. We know that the biggest entertainment from football in Jamaica comes from schoolboy football. The involvement of my students in particular, not just as players, but the school. There's just a different atmosphere during the first term of school, and so we look forward to that term when kids really enjoy being at school because of all the hype around the sport, and we expect to see some improvements," he noted.

The Manning and daCosta Cup competitions are set to kick off at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall as Mona High and Clarendon College begin the defence of their respective titles. Jamaica College, McGrath High, and Glenmuir High are holders of the Walker Cup, Ben Francis Cup, and Champions Cup knockout titles.

A total of 86 schools—12 more than last year—will contest the rural area daCosta Cup, while 40 schools will lock horns for supremacy in the urban area Manning Cup. 

Though the format of the daCosta Cup, Champions Cup, Ben Francis Cup, and Walker Cup remains the same, the Manning Cup, unlike last year, which saw the second round being contested in a round of 32 format, will now be contested as a round of 16. 

This means that the top two from each of seven groups, plus the two best third-placed teams, will be placed in four groups of four teams, with teams playing each other once, after which the top two from each group will progress to the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, main sponsors SportsMax, Digicel, KFC and Wisynco, all expressed delight at being back on board and promised to do their part to ensure the season lives up to its billing. 

Other sponsors include Powerade, Tru Shake, Pringles, Soccer Xpress, Kirk-FP Limited, and Main Event.

The Manning and daCosta Cup competitions can be seen live on SportsMax, SportsMax App and SportsMax YouTube channel.