Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

With the shrill blast that will officially get the schoolboy football season under way expected in less than a week's time, inclement weather conditions are already threatening to wreak havoc on the tightly-wound schedule.

Only days ago, the passage of tropical storm Gustav caused the cancellation or postponement of a number of major football events.

While Harbour View had their home game in the CONCACAF Champions League against Mexican club Pumas Unam totally scratched, Jamaica's Reggae Boyz have been forced to switch their match against Mexico, originally scheduled for the National Stadium this Saturday, to The Azteca in Mexico, on the same day.

With a number of schoolboy games lost to bad weather conditions every year, president of the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA), Dr. Walton Small, hopes that a plan to use additional days during the week for the playing of the competition will help solve that problem this season.

"It is a major concern for us, so this season we are planning to play matches on more days, the days of the week when there would traditionally be no schoolboy football," he said. "This is not only due to the weather concern, but also due to an increase in the number of teams taking part in the competition."

Scheduling

Thirty six schools are slated to take part in the Manning Cup, while 83 are confirmed for the dacosta Cup.

"We are not allowed to play games in the same parish as the Premier League on Wednesdays so that could be a setback, but we are looking at ways to work around that," he said.

"For example, we reserve the right to hold matches in other parishes on the same day as the Premier League."

Traditionally matches are played on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fridays and possibly Wednesdays have now been added to the schedule.

The competition is scheduled to get under way on Saturday, September 13 with a triple-header at Jarrett Park.