Manning’s Coach Tomlinson says change of venue heartbreaking
SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Everton Tomlinson, coach of firsttime Issa/dacosta Cup finalists Manning’s School, says if the organisers go ahead with plans to have the final against Garvey Maceo High played at the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex in Santa Cruz next week, they would be depriving his players of their dream of playing at Montego Bay Sports Complex.
The St James venue was originally scheduled to host both the semi-finals and final of the dacosta Cup, but organisers later changed their minds and scheduled the games for the mid-island venue.
With the combination of not having paid fans and the high cost to rent the facility, ISSA had told the Jamaica Observer earlier that the decision was taken to play the semi-finals and final elsewhere.
While saying he could understand the reasons for the game not being played at Catherine Hall, Tomlinson said as far back as last season before the competition was called off, his boys had been looking forward to paying at the venue.
“This was the dream of the players...this is a big opportunity — it’s like players in England looking to go to Wembley for the big occasion games. It’s historic,” he said.
Tomlinson argued that while he knew that the organisers had the right to change the venues and even dates of games, they had fixed the games for Catherine Hall, which had become a tradition for schools playing in the dacosta Cup competition.
Manning’s School qualified for their first dacosta Cup final after upsetting Dinthill Technical 4-2 on penalties in the semi-final at St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex on Wednesday.
They are unbeaten in the dacosta Cup with just two drawn games — one against Rusea’s High in the first round and against Munro College in the quarter-final.