THOUGH IT has been a source of controversy in past years, Inter-Secondary Schools Association president, Dr Walton Small, insists that pre-season announcement of the venues for the semi-finals and final of the daCosta Cup is not a decision likely to be changed by the organisation any time soon.

Similar to last year, the locations for this year's semi-finals and finals have already been named and will take place at Brancourt in Clarendon or Jarrett Park, Montego Bay.

Quality of the field

"There are a few things that we consider when making our selection, the quality of the field, safety of individuals at the games and, of course, we need to be able to make some money," Small told The Gleaner.

"Even the strongest opponents of the home-field scenario will be asking about what was made from the final because, obviously, they have next season to consider and that will take money and we need to have venues that are able to do that," he said.

With two Clarendon teams, Garvey Maceo and Glenmuir, making it to the final last year, Brancourt posed no problems as a venue selection for the final. However, either of those teams against a team from another parish could have created a problem as it could easily be claimed that the local team would have had the home-field advantage.

One team which certainly could claim to be slighted by the home-field advantage issue is Titchfield.

The Portland team, one of the most consistent in schoolboy football for the past couple of seasons, has been forced to travel away from home for various finals and semi-finals in pursuit of its first title.

Open to suggestions

In 2006, Titchfield were denied the title at Jarrett Park following a 1-0 loss to Frome Technical and a year later, were turned back in the semi-finals by Clarendon College at Brancourt. There is yet to be a final or semi-final held on the eastern side of the island.

"We are open to suggestions from any source as to a reasonable solution, but there has been none so far. So that is how it has to be," Small said.