Sport

Robert Bailey, Gleaner Writer

The 46th staging of the Roper Cup football festival, which involves traditional rivals Kingston College (KC) and defending Manning Cup champions St George's College, will be held today at Winchester Park, starting at noon.

The day's proceedings will get under way with the under-14 match at 9 a.m., followed by an under-16 encounter. The collective scores of both games will determine the winners of the George Thompson Cup, named in honour of the late, outstanding coach of KC.

The battle for the Roper Cup will begin with the under-35 matchup, followed by the feature clash that will bring together the current Manning Cup teams. It is slated to start at 4 p.m. The aggregate score of both games will decide the Roper Cup champion.

KC are the current cup-holders, following their 3-1 win in the under-35 game last year. They went down 2-1 in the Manning Cup game, but took the tie 4-3 on aggregate.

Over-35 contest

The other silverware that will be up for grabs is the Pancho Rankine Cup, which will be contested by the over-35 teams. This match is slated to get under way at 2 p.m.

Wolde Harris, assistant coach of KC's Manning Cup team, said they are looking forward to an exciting game.

"We are going to go out there to play to the best of our abilities because this is a preseason game, and so it's good to look at where we are before the Manning Cup competition starts," said Harris, a former national striker.

"It should be an exciting game because we are playing against the defending Manning Cup champions and there is a lot of history between us," added Harris.

Meanwhile, Marcel Gayle, assistant coach of St George's College, said: "We are very optimistic of our chances because we're a young team and they have been gelling well together, and so I am expecting a solid all-round performance from them tomorrow (today)."

He added: "We know that it is going to be a tough game because both teams are traditional rivals, but we see this as a good opportunity for us to give our young players a chance to shine."