Western Bureau:

Old Harbour High School, which finished second to Glenmuir in Zone I of the 2009 ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup senior schoolboy football competition and were one of the 24 qualifiers for the competition's inter-zone round that is slated to start next Wednesday, have withdrawn.

While efforts to get a comment from Old Harbour High about their surprising decision have failed, ISSA competitions' director, George Forbes, yesterday acknowledged in a radio interview that the school had indeed sent a letter of withdrawal to the organisation.

Competitive round

"Yes, we can confirm that Old Harbour High have withdrawn from all competitions to include Under-14, Under-16 and Under-19, which is the daCosta Cup," said Forbes, in the radio interview. "The reason will not be made known before this coming Monday."

In what was a competitive preliminary round of matches in Zone 1, Glenmuir topped the zone and qualified for the Ben Francis Knockout by amassing 22 points, while Old Harbour took second after also finishing with 22 points, but with an inferior goal-difference. Garvey Maceo finished third in the group with 18 points.

Should ISSA accept Old Harbour's letter of withdrawal, at a meeting slated for this Monday afternoon, 2007 champions Garvey Maceo, whose season had effectively ended after finishing outside the Zone I qualifying frame, could find themselves back in the the competition as one of the inter-zone contenders.

"We are now looking at putting back Garvey Maceo into the competition," Forbes added in the interview.

State of readiness

When Garvey Maceo's coach, Jeffrey Hewitt, was contacted yesterday about his school's state of readiness to get back into the daCosta Cup, he said Old Harbour's withdrawal took him by complete surprise and he was still unaware all the details.

"Today (Friday), we will be looking at restarting our training programme as we await more word on the situation," said Hewitt. "If we are called upon to participate in the inter-zone, we will try to be ready."

Should Old Harbour's withdrawal be ratified and Garvey Maceo reinstated, they will compete in Group Six of the competition's inter-zone round alongside Dinthill Technical, St Mary Technical and Paul Bogle.