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Clarendon-based high schools have been making their presence felt in the ISSA-WATA rural daCosta Cup football competition. Six teams from the parish have advanced to the round of 16, a record number of qualifiers from a single parish.
Yesterday, Denbigh High became the sixth qualifier from the parish after a 4-0 win over Holmwood Technical to end with four points and second in Group 5 ahead of Belair High who also have four points. Denbigh, however, have a plus three goal difference while Belair’s goal difference is minus two. Belair went into their final game against Happy Grove High, needing just a point to advance, but they were beaten 5-1 by the group winners.
For the past two seasons, two Clarendon teams have met in the daCosta Cup final. Clarendon College captured back-to-back titles after defeating Central High in 2022 and Glenmuir last year.
President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Michael Ricketts, a native of Clarendon, visited Denbigh yesterday before their encounter with Holmwood, and his presence and pep talk appeared to have lifted the boys.
Ricketts who was invited to the school by new principal Annette Daley, spoke about his love for teams in the parish and encouraged the boys to do well as with discipline and good academics they had lots of opportunities to gain football scholarships overseas.
In an exclusive interview with The Gleaner, Ricketts spoke about the joy he felt seeing so many school teams from the parish doing well.
“The foundation was laid two decades ago when as president of the Clarendon Football Association, I engaged Lloyd Plummer and John Green to start a youth programme. The fruits being reaped now are not by mistake as the foundation was laid by those gentlemen,” Ricketts said.
He recalled the days when former national coach Rene Simoes took a national team to play against a Brazil Under-23 team and five players from Clarendon were in the starting line-up.
“Clarendon College, Garvey Maceo, and Glenmuir have done well over the years, but I am proud of the growth shown by teams like Kemps Hill, Central, and Denbigh. Central is the community of the Humble Lion players, and Kemps Hill is the area where players from Vere United are from, and we are now seeing the the younger players coming forward,” Ricketts said.
Although a past student of Glenmuir, Ricketts stated that he is happy when any Clarendon team does well.
“I am a past student of Glenmuir, chairman of the Garvey Maceo school board, and a friend of many principals in the parish, so whenever teams from the parish do well, I am very proud,” the JFF president said.
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