Quick-service food giant Restaurants of Jamaica (ROJ), through its flagship brand KFC, recently announced a JMD $15 million sponsorship investment for the 2024 ISSA Schoolboy Football season. This sponsorship marks another significant milestone in KFC's ongoing commitment to nurturing Jamaica’s young football talent, helping to shape the future champions of the nation.

As the new season prepares to kick off on Saturday, September 7, KFC is set to continue its long-standing tradition of supporting Jamaican youth both on and off the football field. KFC Jamaica’s Marketing Manager, Andrei Roper, expressed the brand’s excitement for the upcoming season, stating, “We’re thrilled to be back on board for this journey with our young and talented athletes in what promises to be a season filled with standout performances and memorable moments. Schoolboy Football provides a platform for our young boys to realize their full potential and even plot a path for their future. It gives them the opportunity to showcase their skills not only on the field but in becoming upstanding young men, and so KFC sees this competition as the perfect opportunity to help set them up for success and also to help give back to the community.”

KFC’s involvement in the ISSA Schoolboy Football season goes beyond the financial sponsorship, reflecting the brand’s broader commitment to the development of youth and the community. In a touching gesture, KFC has also donated JMD $500,000 through their KFC Add Hope Outreach Programme to former standout football player Alinton Frankson. Alinton, who previously played for Paul Bogle High, Excelsior High, and the SportsMax Elite League, had his promising career cut short by a devastating injury that led to a diagnosis of lymphoedema, a condition that has severely impacted his health.

KFC Marketing Manager, Andrei Roper (right) seals the deal with Alinton Frankson (left) at the recent launch of the 2024 Schoolboy Football Launch at the National Stadium.

Expressing his gratitude for KFC’s support, Alinton said, “I am incredibly grateful for this generous donation from KFC. The journey toward securing the necessary funds for my treatment has been daunting, and this support has provided tremendous relief. Words cannot fully capture the depth of my appreciation, but I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has shown their support. I am also deeply thankful to the other brands, such as Digicel, that have contributed to my recovery. Without this assistance, I would be uncertain about how to restore my health and regain normalcy. Although it has been challenging to come to terms with being unable to participate in the sport I hold so dearly, I remain committed to maintaining a positive outlook and placing my trust in God.”

KFC Jamaica has a long history of supporting youth development through sports, and this latest sponsorship is part of a broader initiative that also includes contributions to basketball and track and field. Earlier this year, KFC sponsored the Jamaica Basketball Association (JaBA) Star Search Basketball and Life Skills Camp, as well as the Jump Ball Basketball Camps. Additionally, KFC entered into a brand partnership with national triple jump sensation Jaydon Hibbert ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

With its continued investment in Jamaica's young athletes, KFC not only fuels the passion and potential of these future stars but also strengthens its legacy as a key supporter of youth development in the country. As the 2024 ISSA Schoolboy Football season approaches, KFC's involvement promises to add another layer of excitement to a competition that has become a crucial part of Jamaica's sporting culture.

President of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), Keith Wellington, says the move to tighten rules that govern the transfer of students-athletes from overseas to Jamaican schools was done in the interest of encouraging schools to invest more in fostering local talent.

While aware that the onus is on the schools to decide how they expend limited resources, Wellington believes the amendments to the rules will serve as a push for those resources to be channeled toward developing Jamaica’s student-athletes.

ISSA, in a release on Tuesday, announced that foreign students with no family ties to Jamaica or whose families are not in the island as part of the diplomatic corps or United Nations convention will have to sit out a year, regardless of their ages. This means that students coming from secondary schools abroad are now subjected to the waiting period and will also now be regarded as members of the school's quota for each sport.

“If they started high school outside of Jamaica and come to Jamaica now, they are going to all be counted as quota players. Previously, it would have been that they had to be 16 or over to be regarded as quota players, but now they are,” Wellington told SportsMax.Tv during the ISSA Schoolboy football season’s launch at Stadium East on Wednesday.

That said, Wellington explained that overseas students who meet ISSA's eligibility criteria for Sixth Form Studies and are enrolled in Sixth Form at a member school will not be required to wait out a year but will still be deemed a member of the school's quota.

While the amendment, which is set to take effect on September 1, 2024, will impact those schools that rely on overseas students to bolster their respective sport programmes, particularly football and track and field, as students enrolled for the new academic year beginning in September will be affected.

Wellington stressed that the decision arrived at by various principals was necessary for the development of Jamaica’s student-athletes and the country, as there has been an explosion of overseas athletes coming to the island, some from as far as Africa.

“Part of our responsibility as principals is to develop our nation's children. We have to focus on ensuring that they benefit from what the schools have to offer, and so we feel that there comes a time when we have to ensure that the resources—the limited resources that many of our schools have—must be properly channeled toward what our objectives are,” Wellington shared.

“And so what we have done is to not prevent persons from coming to Jamaica to study or to participate in our activities, but to put a cap and a restriction on how many can go to one particular school. That way, we don't have one school spending an inordinate proportion of their resources on non-Jamaicans who have no obligation to contribute to Jamaica's development, whether directly in sports or through whatever aspect of life. So, as principals, that is why we arrived at that decision,” he added.

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.