Tweet
Leave schoolboys football format alone
ON THE SPORTING EDGE
Paul Reid
Thursday, October 06, 2011
THE explosion of goals in the ISSA/Gatorade/Digicel schoolboys' football season especially in the daCosta Cup has reignited the argument of the creation of a two-tiered system to create parity.
Of the over 70 schools taking part in the daCosta Cup, 17 had, up to Tuesday, scored more than 15 goals with defending champion Rusea's High leading the way with 52, St Elizabeth Technical accounting for 46, while Denbigh High and Frome Technical have both scored 33 each and Garvey Maceo and Lennon High with 28 each.
In contrast, 32 teams had scored seven goals or less, 18 have scored five or less, while one school Robert Lightbourne High had yet to score their first goal.
On the surface, those calling for the separation of the powerful from the weak teams, the 'haves as it were from the have nots', might have a point, but schoolboy football should not be confused with club football.
A few years ago there was talk of two 'super' leagues in schoolboy football, one in each competition, the daCosta and Manning Cup, where the best teams would face each other and thus would get the best out of each other. The idea was that with good teams facing each other every day, the standard would rise above what it is today.
The idea would be that the top teams would be separated and would play in the 'elite' competition, while the others would play amongst themselves and would vie for promotion to the upper league. At the same time the teams in the upper league would face relegation to the lower leagues when they failed to perform and finish at or near the bottom of their zones.
The fly in the ointment however was that schools, unlike club teams, cannot simply go out and buy players to fill gaps created when players move on when their eligibility expires.
With the exception of the few school teams that scout other teams to boost their squads, most schools must be content with the boys who earn a place in the school either through the GSAT or GNAT exams or those who earn places in Sixth Form.
Given the uneven flow of talent coming into the schools, success one season does not guarantee success the next.
One school in the lower tier could have played well one season and gained promotion to the upper tier, but would have lost the majority of their better players through graduation, and as such their first season in the upper league would be with a much-weakened team and they would end up on the wrong side of the lop-sided scores that we are hearing about this season.
Those calling for the creation of super leagues and the leaving behind of the so called weaker schools have also forgotten one of the main mandates of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), that of providing a sporting outlet for high school students, no matter their ability level.
There is also the criticism that the schoolboys' season is not long enough to properly prepare the boys to be ready for international competition, whether at their age group level or later on, but it is my contention that this is not the primary purpose of either the Manning or daCosta Cups.
The present system of playing the first round in geographical zones might not be perfect, but it has served us well for decades and there are no good reasons to change it.
Rivalries regardless of team strength or trophies won have sprung up over the years and even new schools entering the competitions have their own ambitions, which might not be to win the title but to beat their more famous neighbours.
Green Island might not avenge their 10-0 beating at the hands of Rusea's this season but who knows what may happen two or three seasons from now given the cyclical nature of sports?
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/weste...#ixzz1a0akpDLJ
ON THE SPORTING EDGE
Paul Reid
Thursday, October 06, 2011
THE explosion of goals in the ISSA/Gatorade/Digicel schoolboys' football season especially in the daCosta Cup has reignited the argument of the creation of a two-tiered system to create parity.
Of the over 70 schools taking part in the daCosta Cup, 17 had, up to Tuesday, scored more than 15 goals with defending champion Rusea's High leading the way with 52, St Elizabeth Technical accounting for 46, while Denbigh High and Frome Technical have both scored 33 each and Garvey Maceo and Lennon High with 28 each.
In contrast, 32 teams had scored seven goals or less, 18 have scored five or less, while one school Robert Lightbourne High had yet to score their first goal.
On the surface, those calling for the separation of the powerful from the weak teams, the 'haves as it were from the have nots', might have a point, but schoolboy football should not be confused with club football.
A few years ago there was talk of two 'super' leagues in schoolboy football, one in each competition, the daCosta and Manning Cup, where the best teams would face each other and thus would get the best out of each other. The idea was that with good teams facing each other every day, the standard would rise above what it is today.
The idea would be that the top teams would be separated and would play in the 'elite' competition, while the others would play amongst themselves and would vie for promotion to the upper league. At the same time the teams in the upper league would face relegation to the lower leagues when they failed to perform and finish at or near the bottom of their zones.
The fly in the ointment however was that schools, unlike club teams, cannot simply go out and buy players to fill gaps created when players move on when their eligibility expires.
With the exception of the few school teams that scout other teams to boost their squads, most schools must be content with the boys who earn a place in the school either through the GSAT or GNAT exams or those who earn places in Sixth Form.
Given the uneven flow of talent coming into the schools, success one season does not guarantee success the next.
One school in the lower tier could have played well one season and gained promotion to the upper tier, but would have lost the majority of their better players through graduation, and as such their first season in the upper league would be with a much-weakened team and they would end up on the wrong side of the lop-sided scores that we are hearing about this season.
Those calling for the creation of super leagues and the leaving behind of the so called weaker schools have also forgotten one of the main mandates of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), that of providing a sporting outlet for high school students, no matter their ability level.
There is also the criticism that the schoolboys' season is not long enough to properly prepare the boys to be ready for international competition, whether at their age group level or later on, but it is my contention that this is not the primary purpose of either the Manning or daCosta Cups.
The present system of playing the first round in geographical zones might not be perfect, but it has served us well for decades and there are no good reasons to change it.
Rivalries regardless of team strength or trophies won have sprung up over the years and even new schools entering the competitions have their own ambitions, which might not be to win the title but to beat their more famous neighbours.
Green Island might not avenge their 10-0 beating at the hands of Rusea's this season but who knows what may happen two or three seasons from now given the cyclical nature of sports?
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/weste...#ixzz1a0akpDLJ
Comment