The UWI, Mona football team made history on Saturday, March 20 at the Vauxhall High School football field as the team was crowned champion of the Claro/KSAFA (Kingston and St. Andrew Football Association) Major League Competition. The win qualifies the UWI, Mona team to play in the Super League next season, a first for any tertiary institution.

The UWI, Mona team defeated Brown’s Town 3-0 thanks in part to two goals scored by Andre Bernal, a UWI football scholarship recipient, and one by O’Neil Fairweather. Andre Bernal is UWI’s leading goal scorer and jointly holds second place as the League’s leading goal scorer, having scored 12 goals in 10 Matches.

The Team had an uneven start in the beginning of the competition which saw UWI, Mona losing its first game of the Major League season. However the Team was able to turn this around, winning six consecutive matches thereafter. UWI, Mona Football Team Coach, Neville “Bertis” Bell commented: “the season was a tough one because on some occasions the Team was required to participate in matches in different competitions at the same time and in some instances the matches were played consecutively.  However, the Team consisted of quality players who had a plan and executed it well” to position themselves at the top in the Major League. While, UWI, Mona and Rockfort ended the competition with the same number of points UWI, Mona claimed the competitive edge because of their outstanding performance and based on the goal difference advantage between the two leading teams.

Coach Bell attributed the success of the Team to “the commitment and dedication of the players made possible partly from the support of the UWI scholarship programme, which has allowed the players to be more focused”. 

UWI, Mona has since the 2008/9 academic year initiated a football scholarship programme as part of the UWI Sports Scholarship initiative designed to enhance students’ learning and development and ensure character building.  The programme provides players with financial, nutritional and academic support. To date, over twenty-five students have received football scholarships which cover the cost of tuition and/or accommodation to qualified athletes.