Ineligible players will not throw competition into chaos – Wellington

IF HYDEL High School take a point from runaway Group E winners Mona in their final group match on Friday, it will virtually secure their passage to the second round of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup.

The Ferry-based school has come under intense scrutiny last week for allegedly using ineligible players in this season’s competition.

However, Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) President Keith Weĺlington explained that based on new rules, even if Hydel were found to be in breach of the competition’s elligibility rules, the organisation, at this stage, could not strip them of any points.

“I have responded to allegations, and I have made it clear that we have had no formal complaints about any other schools or players being involved, who should not be involved.

“I have heard things in the public space and as a responsible leader, I try to follow up and see if there is any merit to it.

“But we are unaware of any schools using players that they shouldn’t,” he maintained.

He pointed out that for a complaint against a player or school to affect the result of a match, it must be lodged within 48 hours of that specific match.

Otherwise, the school will keep the points and other sanctions taken against them.

“The competition rules clearly state that if an ineligible player is used against a team or at any point in time, then a complaint must be lodged within 48 hours for it to affect the result of the game.

“After 48 hours, while we will be able to take action, we cannot change the result. But if they use an inellibible player and we become aware of it in 48 hours, the result of the game will be reversed to favour the opposing team,” he said.

However, any disciplinary action taken against an offending school or player will be decided by the disciplinary committe.

He noted that previously, schools with information on offendings schools waited until the offenders accumilated their points before coming forward, creating logistical nightmares.

He says this practice throws the competition into disrepute, and that the new rule was made to encourages people with information to come forward as early as possible.

“We went back to the Camperdown situation, the Tivoli situation and the Charlemont situation, where coaches and schools knew players were ineligible and waited until the schools used the players to accumulate points, then they reported the players and put the competition in disrepute,” he disclosed.

A recent Television Jamaica report alleged that Hydel used three players registered to Pembroke Hall High School for the 2021-22 school year. The ISSA rules stipulate that those players should sit out the academic year before being eligible to turn out for their new school.

\Pembroke Hall principal Claude Ellis insists the students were registered with them for the said term and were training with their team up until August, and that no transfer was sought or granted to them.

RESTRICTIONS

However, Hydel sources also insist the students have been with them since 2021 and were present for online classes during the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, even if there is a formal complaint against Hydel at this late stage of the preliminaries, only the final game against Mona on Friday could come up for scrutiny by way of any point deduction.

At the moment, if Hydel can take anything away from their game against Mona, and Camperdown fail to beat Papine by eight clear goals, then they will be in the second round.

“We are not changing any result after 48 hours. If they accumulate the points and no report comes for any particular game against any particular player within 48 hours of the game, then those points will stand. Any other action taken will not include them forfeiting games,” said Wellington.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com