COACHES OUTLINE VERY LITTLE FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR D’CUP TEAMS
OCHO RIOS, St Ann, Oct. 25, 2024
The two northeast Coast teams making it to the best 16 in rural area football are struggling, with very little funds to keep going.
(Happy Grove on a shoestring budget still making Portland proud)
Happy Grove and Ocho Rios high schools are struggling because their team has very little support in their 2024 daCosta Cup campaign.
Aside from the well-resourced, long-established former champions Cornwall College, they are the only two teams from the North Coast Parishes to have progressed to the top 16.
(Ocho Rios daCosta Cup team — amazing run with very little community support)
But they had to depend on school budgets and the creativity of their principals to keep the teams fed, travelling and in gear.
(Eyan Kean – on the road and still trying to get support)
Eyan Kean, manager of the Ocho Rios High team and head of the Physical Education Department at Ocho Rios High says ahead of the season and since they have been asking for support but have got almost none.
(Happy Grove coach Vincent Wallace — still hoping)
“I am somewhat disappointed [our football team] being the beacon of St Ann we have not received any support from the Ocho Rios community,” Mr Kean says. “We have been in dialogue with persons, asking, writing letters and the support was nil. We are a team in Ocho Rios doing well for the past five years.”.
Asked about support from past student groups, Mr Kean said only three individual past students have provided any support at all this year.
The story is very similar to that of Happy Grove High where coach Vincent Wallace says they are operating on a shoestring budget. He says had it not been for the diligent support of the school’s principal the team could not have advanced to where they are. “We have got the full support of the principal. We make decisions just from day to day,” he said.
In the case of Happy Grove High too, past students have been largely a no-show.
Speaking diplomatically Mr Wallace said: “There is a past students association I can’t speak definitively about why they are not where we think they should be.”
Happy Grove is located in the mall rural town of Hector’s River and doesn’t have even a smattering of the tourism-related businesses and commercial entities in and around the town of Ocho Rios. However, Mr Wallace says he’s still looking for support and hoping that now they have reached the round of 16, increased attention will turn into financial support.
LOOK OUT LATER FOR THE NORTH COAST TIMES PREVIEW OF THE SATURDAY MATCH-UP BETWEEN HAPPY GROVE AND OCHI
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