<DIV class=scrolling id=insideDiv style="PADDING-RIGHT: 21px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"><DIV class=HTMLTitle><SPAN id=Ar0450000 style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">William Knibb coach wants baller in, but principal plays tough </SPAN></DIV><BR style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 5px; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"><BR style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 5px; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"><DIV class=HTMLByline><SPAN id=Ar0450004 style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">By PAUL A REID Observer West writer </SPAN><BR style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 5px; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"></DIV><BR style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 5px; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"><DIV class=HTMLContent style="OVERFLOW: auto"><SPAN id=Ar0450001 style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">MARTHA BRAE, Trelawny </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">THE coach of the William Knibb Memorial High School’s daCosta Cup team, Cassman Williams, is to meet with the principal and vice-principal this morning to iron out issues that have affected the team’s preparations for the Ben Francis Knockout and Inter-Zone round. </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">According to OBSERVER WEST sources, the team, which that has already won Zone A of the competition and secured a place in the quarter-finals of the Ben Francis Knockout, has not trained since Monday in protest against the school’s decision not to accept one of their team-mates to upper sixth form. </SPAN><SPAN id=Ar0450002 style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"></SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">The team-mate, Dane Johnson, who attended lower sixth form last year, was not accepted back this year. His non-acceptance came after acting principal Roland Powell reportedly decided that there was space for only 15 students and that Johnson, who represented the school in both cricket and football, could not be accommodated. </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Johnson, who transferred from Cornwall College last year, played in the first game of the season, a loss to Maldon High, but has not played since. Repeated efforts to contact Powell have proven futile as phone calls to the school turned up responses that he was in meetings or on a “late lunch”. </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">William Knibb leads Zone A with an unassailable 16 points, which automatically gives them a berth in the second round of the Ben Francis </SPAN><SPAN id=Ar0450003 style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Knockout. The winners of all 12 zones qualify for the Ben Francis, but four schools, the winners of A, E, I and L, have been given byes to the second round. The byes were earned from last season when teams from those zones advanced to the semi-finals. </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">It is understood that the William Knibb Under-16 team has also joined the action and are refusing to train in preparation for their competition that is set to start soon, coming out in support of the 17-year-old Johnson,O who also represents the senior Trelawny parish cricket team. </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">William Knibb, which was a finalist in the daCosta Cup in the 2003 season, will end the preliminary round on Saturday when they play away to Cornwall College in Montego Bay. </SPAN></DIV></DIV>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">THE coach of the William Knibb Memorial High School’s daCosta Cup team, Cassman Williams, is to meet with the principal and vice-principal this morning to iron out issues that have affected the team’s preparations for the Ben Francis Knockout and Inter-Zone round. </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">According to OBSERVER WEST sources, the team, which that has already won Zone A of the competition and secured a place in the quarter-finals of the Ben Francis Knockout, has not trained since Monday in protest against the school’s decision not to accept one of their team-mates to upper sixth form. </SPAN><SPAN id=Ar0450002 style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"></SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">The team-mate, Dane Johnson, who attended lower sixth form last year, was not accepted back this year. His non-acceptance came after acting principal Roland Powell reportedly decided that there was space for only 15 students and that Johnson, who represented the school in both cricket and football, could not be accommodated. </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Johnson, who transferred from Cornwall College last year, played in the first game of the season, a loss to Maldon High, but has not played since. Repeated efforts to contact Powell have proven futile as phone calls to the school turned up responses that he was in meetings or on a “late lunch”. </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">William Knibb leads Zone A with an unassailable 16 points, which automatically gives them a berth in the second round of the Ben Francis </SPAN><SPAN id=Ar0450003 style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Knockout. The winners of all 12 zones qualify for the Ben Francis, but four schools, the winners of A, E, I and L, have been given byes to the second round. The byes were earned from last season when teams from those zones advanced to the semi-finals. </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">It is understood that the William Knibb Under-16 team has also joined the action and are refusing to train in preparation for their competition that is set to start soon, coming out in support of the 17-year-old Johnson,O who also represents the senior Trelawny parish cricket team. </SPAN>
<SPAN style="TEXT-JUSTIFY: newspaper; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">William Knibb, which was a finalist in the daCosta Cup in the 2003 season, will end the preliminary round on Saturday when they play away to Cornwall College in Montego Bay. </SPAN></DIV></DIV>
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