By Barbara Ellington

Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) caretaker-candidate for Manchester North East Audrey Marks is putting more than J$500,000 in cash up for grabs in the seven-a-side football competition scheduled for August 3 to 31.

Marks, speaking at the opening ceremony of the competition held at Holmwood Technical High School on Friday (August 1), asked prospective divisional teams to participate.

The competition will also include netball and domino contests among teams representing all three divisions.

“The aim is to build a constituency team from the seven-a-side competition that will, in the long run, be able to compete nationally and earn an additional income from sports. The big vision is for you to get exposure and we will also be investing in your gears to give you a professional look,” Marks said.    

Holmwood Technical principal Hidran McKulsky encouraged aspiring young entertainers to attend the sporting events weekly and showcase their creativity. These will be judged and prizes awarded.  Sports teams that have already registered were also asked to continue spreading the word to others who wish to participate. 

“This is not a political initiative but is carefully designed to identify talents in the constituency; bring communities together and allow for networking among the existing talent that can expand beyond the community to the national and even international levels. We want you to see this as a revolutionary movement in how constituencies operate by including and engaging citizens, and I hope it will become a model for others to emulate,” McKulsky said.

Meanwhile, coach Maurice Duncan urged each footballer to suggest a name that they think would best represent the final squad of 11, for a cash prize of J$20,000.  

Starting Sunday, matches will be held at the Holmwood, Chudleigh Housing Scheme, Craighead and Silent Hill fields and end on August 31. Two seven-a-side fields will be created on each standard-sized football field for the competition.

There will also be competitions in domino and netball, and the attractive cash prizes of three divisional prizes of J$50,000 each (Christiana, Craighead and Walderston), a first place prize of a trophy, plus J$150,000 as well as respective first and second runners up prizes of J$100,000 and J$70,000 and a trophy.