JC still awaiting appeal verdict

Many-time Manning Cup champions Jamaica College (JC) should know within the next 24 to 36 hours whether they have succeeded in their appeal against a one-year ban from the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association’s (ISSA) urban-area Walker Cup knockout competition.

ISSA’s three-member independent Appeals Panel heard JC’s case last Friday and is expected to submit its ruling to the association between today and tomorrow.

The panel comprises cricket administrator Fritz Harris, former Netball Jamaica President Marva Bernard and former Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) General Secretary Raymond Grant.

JC is challenging sanctions imposed by ISSA last month for fielding Jamone Lyle, who was found to have breached the association’s amateurism rules.

ISSA’s amateurism rule states that competition among member schools “should be restricted to student-athletes who are fully committed to their academic development” and that every registered athlete “must maintain their amateur status to retain their eligibility”.

Under the rules, one of the ways an athlete can lose amateur status is by being “contracted to a professional team”.

Athletes who have signed professional contracts are therefore ineligible to participate in ISSA competitions, which are governed by amateur regulations.

Lyle reportedly represented JC in both the Manning Cup and Walker Cup despite having signed a professional contract with Jamaica Premier League club Waterhouse.

ISSA found JC guilty of using Lyle in its Walker Cup semi-final victory over Mona High. As a result, the school was removed from the final against Kingston College and replaced by Mona High.

JC were also banned from next season’s Walker Cup, while points were deducted from their Manning Cup tally. Lyle was also handed a one-year ban from ISSA schoolboy football.

The appeal was heard on November 6 at the headquarters of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association in Kingston. Up to Wednesday evening, no ruling had been confirmed.

ISSA has barred players with professional contracts from all its competitions since September 1, 2015.