Inaugural Youth Football Festival attains objectives

Over 100 young footballers came together for the inaugural COMSPORT Youth Festival 2026, held on Saturday, August 29, at the COMSPORT Facility at Arnos Vale.

It featured two teams in the Under-10 and six in the Under-14.

In the Under-10 final, System Three defeated Jebelle FC 2–0 to capture the title.

The Under-14 final saw Jebelle FC coming out on top, defeating System Three 2–1 in an exciting encounter.

St. Augustus Lewis was voted MVP of the tournament, earning recognition for his outstanding performances throughout the festival.

The results were secondary to the brain child of the event, Michael John, who explained the thinking behind hosting the Festival.

“The event [was]designed not only to showcase young talent, but to reinforce an important message: sport must play a greater role in keeping our young people active, engaged and away from crime.To give young footballers an opportunity to compete, display their abilities and gain valuable match experience. More importantly, it brought together youths who participated in football programmes across St. Vincent and the Grenadines during the summer, providing a fitting culmination to the various summer football programmes”, John said.

“The message is simple, if we want to fight crime, we have to give our young people something positive to do. I believe strongly that we cannot complain about the direction in which our young people are going if we are not prepared to create opportunities for them.We need to open our playing fields, improve our sporting facilities and get our children and young people playing again, in every community, every nook and cranny of the country,” John added.

Another take away from the festival was the opportunity to identify two young players to receive assistance from COMSPORT for an initial period of one year.

“This is part of our commitment to not only identify talent, but to help provide opportunities for young people who demonstrate potential and need support in their development,” John concluded.