Football helps to quell Steer Town violence

EIGHTEEN TEAMS, including an all-female line-up, will participate in the 2019 Steer Town Unity Football Competition, which begins on Sunday, at the Steer Town Community Centre in St Ann.

In launching the eight-a-side competition for its third year, coordinator and councillor for the area, Genevor Gordon-Bailey, said that prizes for this year’s competition amount to over $200,000, including a special prize for the most disciplined team.

Gordon-Bailey noted that the competition was launched in 2017 as an initiative to bring unity back to Steer Town and surrounding communities that, up to then, had been plagued by violence.

She said the Unity Football Competition has so far been able to keep members of the community together and free from violence, noting, “Some youths who never used to speak to each other are now speaking because of their involvement in the competition.”

This successful transition has prompted Gordon-Bailey to now look at inviting corporate Jamaica and others willing to assist to positively transforming the lives of the youth in Steer Town and other areas to contribute.

Meanwhile, the residents are eagerly looking forward to the competition, which kicks off at 3:00 p.m. with a double-header. In the first game, Corner Shop Strikers will go up against Flourish FC, after which Foreign Currency will tackle Scenious Strikers.

Matches will be played on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.