Keisha Hill, Staff Reporter

THE PRINCE of Wales Peace Cup community football competition, launched by the Prince of Wales on the grounds of King's House in March, has been created in an effort to engage hard-to-reach young people from schools and communities in violence-prone areas.

The focal point of the initiative is a six-a-side football competition aimed at reaching the segment of young people not normally captured in traditional endeavours.

According to Natalie Peterson, president of the Jamaica chapter of the Metropolitan Black Police Association in association with Beacon for Peace and Achie-vement (BPA), said the Prince of Wales' initiative was organised to alleviate crime and target young people who were victims of and/or perpetrators of crime.

Programme to be effective

"Our objective is to actively engage young people so they will neither be prey nor predators to crime," Peterson said. "The programme will be effective as young people are quite impressionable and we want to impress upon the minds of the youth the right message," she said.

The competition is expected to kick off in St Elizabeth next month and continue through August. The BPA is expecting at least 64 teams from all 14 parishes.

Official registration for the competition is currently under way and will close on Saturday, May 17.

The competition is open to male and female players 15 years and older. Each team is expected to field 10 players along with a registration fee of $500. Teams interested in registering for the competition can contact the BPA at 754-9376 or 895-4561.

"This programme is a social intervention. We would really like our inner-city communities to come out and support the competition. But, of course, it is a national competition, so we would like teams in the rural areas to get involved as well," Peterson said.

Open to amateur players

She further indicated that the competition was not open to professional footballers but amateur players who want to exhibit their skills.

At the end of the competition, the winning team will be presented with the Prince of Wales' Community Peace Trophy. More than $500,000 worth of prizes will be distributed to the winning team, the most disciplined team and player and the most valuable player.

The winning team will also get the opportunity to travel to the United Kingdom to meet a professional English Premier League club.

Paulette Pryce, chairperson of the Jamaica Chapter of the BPA, said,"this programme is about bringing peace and change and preparing young people to be great leaders".