By Neto Baptiste
Coordinator of Schools Football and a former men’s and women’s national coach, Rowan “Porridge” Benjamin, is hoping for improved transportation services during the 2024/25 Schools Football Competition slated to kick off in October.
Speaking recently on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Benjamin highlighted his concerns with the efficiency of the system while acknowledging the difficulties faced by the individuals charged with managing the process.
“I am not happy with it, and sometimes I see Shipwreck [Stanfield Joseph] really tries his best to move three teams to various locations and the three of them are playing at 2:30 pm. The ministry does not have a bus and at one time I had put in the rules but I had to take it out quickly, that each school would be responsible for transport to the venue, and there is where we’re having the problem and the principal will be asking where will they find the money,” he said.
School buses are often used to transport teams to and from matches, with teams sometimes arriving late for scheduled kick-off time. This, according to reports, is often owing to the fact that the said buses also transport students home after school closes.
Benjamin said the issue has been a topic of discussion during many meetings.
“We would be in a meeting and transportation comes up, there is always a talk that they need two buses and they will talk to somebody about two buses, but I’ve been hearing that for the past 30 years and I am not seeing it as yet. I have spoken to the Director of Sports [Heather Samuel Daley] about this and the coordinator is Shipwreck [Stanfield Joseph] but we should be having a meeting with the Transport Board people, I think it’s Dion Simmons, but we can’t be asking the police to be there for a game starting at three o’clock and then the bus rolling in with the players at 3:30,” the official said.
The men’s competitions will start on October 3rd with the under-20 league, while the female competition is slated to commence in January, some three months later than normal.
