Peter Bunting football round-up
The 2016-17 season of the Manchester Football Association (MFA) kicked off on Thursday with the start of the Brumalia House knockout competition.
Sponsorship of the competition is significant as Brumalia House are the longest-serving sponsor at this time for the MFA, as it nears two decades of continuous sponsorship.
The first match fittingly featured defending champions Ricam Academy at their Greenvale home against new entrants, Technical Strikers.
The game was won by Ricam Academy 3-0, with Michael Hamilton grabbing the spotlight by scoring two goals, including the first goal of the season in the sixth minute from a superbly taken free kick. Kemar Ricketts then scored Ricam’s second goal in the 34th minute as they enjoyed a 2-0 half-time advantage.
Hamilton would return to make the game safe with his second strike in the 58th minute, as Ricam advanced to the second round.
The second edition of the Knox 40th anniversary 7K Run/Walk will take place today at its Cobbla campus in Manchester.
The inaugural race took place last year, when it initiated the institution’s 40th anniversary celebrations. This year’s event will take both runners and walkers through the community of Cobbla and a small section of Spaldings. The presentations will take place on the Knox campus.
The event is organised in three age categories: Nineteen and under, 20-39 and over 40. There are different admission charges for students with identification, individuals and groups and registration can be completed before the start of the race.
The sixth season of the Howie Chin/Manchester Football Association (MFA) Preparatory Schools competition is underway. The competition, which is a memorial for the former MFA executive and noted Mandeville businessman Howie Chin, has both a boys’ league and girls’ league. Ten schools are contesting the boys’ competition and five are in the girls’ league.
Six matches were played in the opening round, which was hosted at the Belair High School ground. Two matches were played in the girls’ division.
The opening game saw Mount St Joseph defeat Emmanuel Prep 3-0, with Dania Lee Wint scoring twice, while in the second game, Destiny Black’s lone
strike gave Knox Prep a 1-0 win over Belair.
The opening boys’ game produced the first hat-trick, as multiple scorer Damani Mattis led Knox to a 4-0 win over Hillcrest. In the other boys’ game, Brian Barnes scored twice to lead Mount St Joseph to a 4-0 win over West Indies College Prep.
Georges Valley (15 points), Blue Mountain (13) and Old England (12) headline the pack of teams trying to make it as divisional finalists in the Peter Bunting Community Football League. Porus (11) and Inverness (nine) are also in contention.
In last week’s matches, Georges Valley stayed unbeaten and grabbed the spotlight, whipping Mandeville Police 5-0. The top-of-the-table clash in the Bellefield Division, featuring Blue Mountain and Porus, ended 1-1.
Other notable winners were Kendal, who outscored Comfort 4-2 in the Royal Flat Division, and Coffee Grove, who edged Bombay 2-1 in the Bellefield Division.
Club master Orville Henriques, fresh from his fair performance in the United States Nationals the previous week, again proved too much for his Mandeville-based club rivals to finish on top at last weekend’s monthly match at the Manchester Rifle and Pistol Club, the 10th major contest of the year.
However, it was the percentage tie between four shooters in the top five which produced the drama in a shoot that took place in rainy conditions.
First, Ellsworth Dixon and Thomas Jones produced identical percentages of 83 for second and third, respectively, among the club’s shooters. Dixon was given the edge when they were broken to micro digits.
Owen Campbell and Evan Grant then had to be separated for fourth and fifth, respectively, after both produced 71 per cent. Campbell secured the edge when the scores were separated by decimal points.
Only two major matches are left to complete what has been an extraordinary year at the Lincoln-based range.