 Kicking off this pink edition of the SportsMagZone with football, Draminka's top flight competition, the Real Nephew Premier League returns on Sunday and fans got a taste of what to expect with a boomer classical on Wednesday night. The much anticipated contest is a pre-season fixture featuring two of the country's fiercest inner city rivals, Arnett Gardens and Waterhouse and for the second consecutive year Arnett prevailed winning 2-0 in Drusland. Both goals were scored from the penalty spot, Shai Smith in the sixth and substitute Rashiki Kelsen in the sixth to third, giving Xavier Gilbert his first not-of-a-victory as Arnett head coach. Good just yourself for what is to come, I mean in the night, in the evening, at school, atmosphere, good for football, good rivalry again, also some bragging rights, you know, so it was good, I mean, some new players too, so it's good to get this out of the way, so I mean in preparation for the season, I'm happy for them and for those and for the fans, you know, it's unfortunate that we couldn't have a game on Sunday and a lot of them travel here today and this is for them. Yeah, Lance and Mariah, this boomer classical contest was set for earlier this week, it was to be in the community of Arnett Gardens but unfortunately because of a violent incident, the game was postponed and then moved to Drusland but it's good to see these inner-city teams going head-to-head, ahead of the start of the season and I'm even happier to see Arnett Gardens coming out on top with the 2-0 victory but Xavier Gilbert now getting a pretty good start to his life in the jungle. Yeah, it's exactly what Xavier Gilbert would need, Ricardo, you know, new coaching set-up, new team, so for him it's what he would expect and want from his team. What I will say though is, you know, I spoke to Kamani, he's one of our producers here at SportsMax and he went to the match, he was able to file the report for us and I was asking him about the turnout, the atmosphere, so he told me that, you know, the crowd was there because of the new location and a lot of people came out to support, very, very happy to get football back up and running, so where the turnout is concerned, he felt as if the crowd was there and of course the team got the required support that they wanted. The quality of football though, he said it was not top, top class football that you would expect but I think it's understandable because, you know, you're just getting ready for the season, you're not in the season as yet, it's a pretty much rivalry so I think it's exactly what we would expect, Waterhouse would walk away, feeling a bit hard-done that, you know, they didn't even get a goal on the score sheet but it's good fun as coach Xavier Gilbert said, it's for bragging rights and it walks away with this one. Yeah and Waterhouse would be a little bit unsettled even though I take your point Mariah, that, you know, they are in pre-season so they aren't really peaking yet but they had a bad season last year, Waterhouse were below par last year so starting off this season or ahead of the season with a loss won't be, you know, a good result on their part. Having said that, both teams have a lot of work to do because there are other teams in the league like Cavalier, Harbourview and Dunbar Holden who have been playing Concacaf, Caribbean Cup Championship football who are already in gear and ready to start the season in reasonably good match competitive shape so I think this is a good result for Arnett Garnes with their new coach. Arnett is not a very easy place to coach at and we still don't know the reasons why Paul Tegert Davis and Eric Radimacher's were not retained for this season having done so well last season. Well as regular season champions but disappointed in the playoffs so Arnett turning over a new leaf here with a new coach and he'll be out of the microscope because Arnett Garnes fans are not pleased at the please. Yeah that is a fact Lance. You just made a point relating to the fact that Cavalier, Dunbar Holden, Harbourview have been active playing Caribbean Cup football. Do you think that is something that could hurt them at the back end of this Premier League season and when teams maybe like Arnett Gardens and so on would be still relatively fresh they would have started their campaigns significantly earlier. Potentially it can. The fact is it depends on how deep their squads are and the coach would have to rotate players and ensure that they they last the season. Having said that if they go on to do well in the Concacaf Caribbean Cup it will boost their confidence and their their the aura of being champions of Caribbean Cup football or even if they get to the final it would be something that would boost them as a as from the image standpoint and certainly personally as players. So I would suspect that if they go on to go really deep into the Caribbean Club Championship which will Harbourview and Cavalier into the semis. So if either of them go on to the final and win I would think that it would give them the sort of boost you know confidence wise to to to last the season. And I think that the owners would be on the coaching staff to ensure that they use their players in a way that will allow them to to you know do well throughout the rest of the entire season because we know that based on the format the regular season is important but not that important. Yeah it makes sense in the regular season and then you go to the playoffs and flop as Arnett Garnes did last season. So I want to say they flopped but they disappointed because based on their regular season performance a lot of Arnett Garnes fans were expected that they would win the Premier League and they didn't even get to the final so that would be disappointing. I think with all of these things we've been in sports we've been watching a strategy like with every advantage we could find two disadvantages for that advantage. So for me it really comes down to how the coach decides to strategize everything who does he use who does he rest because at the end of the day we could still say that a team play in Ricardo is in form versus a team that's rusty and then that would be an advantage for playing football all the time before. So it's really how coach decides to create his strategy. And you know when I think about it from a track and field standpoint right Lanson Mariah there is a science to getting athletes to peak at particular points of a season. I don't know if it is the same with football and I wonder if that's the reason why right across the world what you see more often than not are league competitions rather than the US system where you have a regular season and then you have the post season which more often than not ends up in a knockout situation. Now for football I have said this a number of times I'm not a massive fan of the format that is utilized in the Jamaica Premier League. I understand why the organizers would want it that way because you want this big grand finish to the tournament and you want to build excitement and that was done last season and even seasons before but for me the drawback for that is that you have teams who have performed at a high level for six months and they may have one bad match. They may not even have a bad match because you could play two quality matches end up in a draw and losing penalties and all your seasons work goes down the drain like that. So I'm not a fan of it and but at the end of the day you have to get it done. Everyone understands what the situation is going into the season and so I guess as a coach you have to figure out now how do we strategize so that we can peak at the back end but I don't suspect it's as easy for football a team sport as it might be for individual sports. Having said that I agree with you because I don't like the format myself. I prefer a season rewarding a team that is the best most consistent all around based on the weight of the performance throughout the entire season but I would suggest as well that a lot of times that teams do well in the regular season and then don't go all the way to win through the playoffs. Quite often for my reading it's not so much tired legs or peaking too early. There is something about playoff sport that requires a certain mental toughness and clinical efficiency desire and hunger. Some of the factors that decide who wins playoff matches. So sometimes for me it's not so much that a team has lost its form or peak too early and don't deliver in the playoffs but there are some teams that just rise to playoff situations. And I think as well there is something about the pressure that you are under when you end the regular season as the number one team the team that know every other team is going for. It's different handling that pressure than when you finish fifth and sixth there's no pressure on you going through the playoffs and that can sometimes play a part. Both coaches that's the Arnett Gardens coach and the Waterhouse coach along with CEO of professional football Jamaica Limited Owen Hill shared their sentiments about the recently announced monthly grants of one hundred fifty thousand Jamaican dollars to each of the 14 clubs in the league by Minister of Sport Olivia Grange. It's good and the support every support is important and that will of course do something good for the players and for the club. So I mean we must say I'm applauded and show appreciation for that and I mean all the clubs will benefit in some way shape or form you know so very good. To the Minister we really appreciate that it's gonna go a far away I mean a nutrition nutrition to help us on nutrition I mean another field these players put in a lot of work day in and day out and I mean that would have go. So it has cooled us to the to the ministry for the contribution and we are grateful for it. The government has always been a partner with us so I mean they continue to do that through the ministry and the SDF. I think the clubs are very happy because again it helps them to offset a couple operational expenses that they may have still you know not necessarily where we'd want it to be but we give many thanks so you know thank the minister thank the ministry thank the SDF and any other partner that we have on board we thank you because without you again it wouldn't be possible. Yeah well said Owen Hill I think 150,000 Jamaican dollars Lansen Mariah just over nine hundred and sixty US dollars that's what each club will be getting monthly and as Owen Hill says what did I say nine hundred we're nine thousand it would it know nine thousand yeah no with nine hundred I think you've got your Wilma's math off it's a hundred fifty thousand Jamaican dollars that's right to each club okay you almost got me there lands so yeah so completely agree with Owen Hill though yes not exactly where you would want it to be but at the same time I think you have to applaud the government for this initiative because it is an opportunity as Marcel Gale said to offset some operational costs that the the clubs will have and you're always going to want more but you have to start somewhere and I think you have to applaud the government for stepping in in this instance. Yeah what's for sure is running any club taking part in any sport is expensive and as you said Ricardo you always want more because there are always areas to develop and playing sport is very expensive I mean we all know that so for me I think it's a good initiative for the government it's a good look and then you know now that they've allotted this amount of cost the players will be looking forward to a couple years hopefully they can get a raise. I don't know if it's enough to get them a raise but it's it's definitely a good start Lance. Yeah not a lot of money to be quite honest but as the coaches just mentioned Marcel Gale from Waterhouse and Xavier Gilbert from Arnett Gardens and Owen Hill suggesting it will help because the the clubs need the clubs need the funding because it's it takes a lot to run these clubs and these clubs quite often run in deficit financially so any amount would be would be appreciated so they don't want to be ungrateful. Yeah for sure and it's also understanding that you get a hundred and fifty thousand Jamaican dollars per month for this year but when you go back to the negotiation table if there is such a thing with the government then you can ask for a little bit more next year so you welcome what you get this year but you get ready to request even more the next time around. That's the plan. Hopefully. Alright let's take a break on the Sportsmax zone when we return Lance Whitaker will be talking about his favorite sports. No it's second. He'll probably have a box off.