Four titles and a Super Saturday
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Nichwayne Patrick (right) from Excelsior High School and Jerome McCarthy (centre) from Kingston Technical High compete for the ball during their Ali Cup football match played at Excelsior High School last Thursday.
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Garvey Maceo High School’s players celebrate winning the ISSA WATA daCosta Cup after defeating McGrath High School 5-3 on penalties in the final at the National Stadium last season. The game ended 1-1 in regulation time.
Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Competitions Officer Ewan Scott believes changes to the format and structure of the 2026 schoolboy football season will make the various competitions more competitive and credible.
The new season was launched on Thursday at CVM TV, and Scott said the revamped structure, including seeded teams receiving a bye to the second round and the restoration of the Walker Cup and Ben Francis Cup to their original knockout formats, should result in more competitive contests throughout the season.
“For the Ben Francis, 64 teams will participate in the tournament. For the Walker Cup it will be 32 teams. It will be a straight knockout. That will not change, but more teams will each get a chance to compete, inclusive of the seeded teams.
“So we are bringing back the days when teams could compete for all available trophies.”
Scott said ISSA has encountered no resistance to the changes and believes opening the Walker Cup and Ben Francis Cup to all schools will help restore credibility to both competitions.
“The teams are glad for it, and also for the change to the competitions. It brings more credibility and prestige.
“In recent years, they have talked about losers’ cups (Walker Cup and Ben Francis Cup). It is when teams drop out at a certain stage, they go into these competitions.
“Now we can put some Davids against Goliaths and give some of the teams that wouldn’t have had a chance to start out and make the chips fall where they may.
“Definitely [it will erase the losers’ cup label] because now everybody starts out on the same footing.
“You have teams that usually cling on to these competitions when they drop out of the major competitions, and that was the only thing available, but now it is a real knockout with the best of everyone,” he said.
Another major change is that qualification for the Champions Cup will no longer be determined by the Manning Cup and daCosta Cup semi-finalists. Instead, the semi-finalists in the Walker Cup and Ben Francis Cup will advance to the competition.
“So this year we can crown a team winning four trophies. We expect a lot more competitiveness with the seeded teams bypassing the first round; it should make the first round a lot more competitive and to get rid of the one-sided games and scores in the first round.
“Now teams will figure they have more of a chance from the first round, and a better chance to display their skills,” he pointed out.
The daCosta Cup is scheduled to kick off on September 5, with the Manning Cup set to begin on September 9.
To keep seeded teams active while they bypass the opening round, Scott said ISSA will stage a ‘Super Saturday’, during which the 30 daCosta Cup and Manning Cup teams receiving first-round byes will play exhibition matches across several venues.
“In order to create some activity, we have a weekend dubbed ‘Super Saturday’ where the 30 teams will get a chance to play across five venues.
“It will be six teams at each venue. Three daCosta Cup and three Manning Cup teams. Each team will get a chance to play two matches, and it will be the daCosta Cup teams against Manning Cup teams.
“It is just to provide activity for the teams. No champions will be crowned. It is not a matter of crowning champions. It is just to provide official activity for them. Although there will be sectional prizes, like best goal.”
Scott said ISSA expects the changes to have a positive impact, but will assess the results throughout the season and make adjustments if necessary.
“Sometimes you have to do a little tweaking. So we are using the changes this year to make the judgement and to see if we have to do any more re-tweaking next season.
“It is on a trial basis, and we are wishing for the best. Hopefully, we will be able to get out the crowd and get our sponsors excited from early.
“However, by mid-October we would have crowned the Walker Cup and Ben Francis Cup champions. So not all the finals will be until late November, December.
“From early, we will be crowning champions, and that gives a bit more, instead of bumping up everything down at the end. So we should have some excitement right throughout,” he said.
livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com