Naparima College will be looking to make it a hat-trick of victories when they face Presentation College in the 3rd annual Turton-Osborne Memorial at Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella on Saturday.
"Naps" won the first Turton-Osborne Memorial Trophy clash in 2002 and followed it up with a 4-0 shutout of "Pres" last year. And come Saturday, they will be looking to register the first three-peat.
The idea to host an annual match in the memory of two of San Fernando's outstanding footballers was born in 2000 and the then committee, later to be known as the Turton-Osborne Foundation, agreed on Val Turton, former national player and Presentation College great, and Carl Osborne, the creative and outstanding Naparima College centre half.
Osborne created history in 1953 when he became the first Naparima College captain to lead his team to victory over "Pres" in an InterCol game.
Twenty years later (1973) he had the distinction of guiding "Naps" to their fist National InterCol Championships as a coach.
He repeated that feat in 1976 and later went on to also coach Presentation College to InterCol glory.
Turton, on the other hand, was the last of five brothers, who all represented Presentation College.
Nicknamed "Pinhead Duffy" by one of his sisters because of his petite frame, Val had a much more difficult time of making Presentation's team than his other brothers, but when he finally did, in 1952, he played with great distinction.
He helped Presentation maintain their hold on the JO Cotridge Cup to keep alive a tradition that Presentation College never lost an InterCol to Naparima as long as there was a Turton on their team.
In light of the outstanding achievements of these two southern "sons of the soil", the Foundation decided to honour their contributions with an annual football clash between the two colleges.
The Foundation also agreed that in addition to the annual memorial game, they would promote the following three key goals:
1. The awarding of a $5,000 bursary each year to a deserving student from each college to further his educational aspirations,
2. Providing financial support for the football programmes of both Naparima and Presentation College, and
3. Encouraging the development of female football in the southern region.
With regards to the development of female football, a match featuring two teams from schools in the southern region was added to the programme thus creating an exciting double-header.
This year's female game will see Fyzabad Composite coming up against Moruga Composite with the winners collecting the Dr Jean Ramjohn-Richards Challenge Trophy, which was donated by the First Lady.
The Foundation has already awarded $20,000 over the past two years with 2002 awardees, Shay Sutherland of Presentation and Lyndon Pompey of Naparima, each receiving $5,000 to help further their education at a university of their choice.
The 2003 awardees were Ancil Farrier and Davon Jones of Naparima and Presentation, respectively.
Farrier has already been accepted at the University of West Connecticut, USA on a football scholarship.
Saturday's double-header is schedule to kick off 2 p.m. with the Fyzabad/Moruga female match-up to be followed by the feature game some two hours later.
And Presentation, who usually dominated matches between these old rivals, during the playing days of Turton and Osborne, will be seeking to restore some pride by denying Naparima an historic hat-trick of wins.
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