The 2020/21 ISSA Manning Cup and DaCosta Cup competitions will not be held this year as Jamaica’s Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) has cancelled all sporting competitions that were scheduled for the Christmas term in the academic year.
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.