For more than 27 years, the Barbados Cup has been organizing an annual tournament for players from the St. Matthias, Harts Gap, Rockley, Bayville and Britton Hill area.

While soccer has been the most popular sport in Barbados and especially in economically disadvantaged areas, there has always been a lack of opportunities for players who were not talented enough to play association football.

Additionally, in St. Matthias, where the tournament is held, there was an obvious absence of playing facilities with the closure of the Marine Hotel, a small portion of the grounds used by the Barbados Cup to organize a community competition embracing St. Matthias and eventually the surrounding communities.

This competition became an immediate success and teams usually without standard uniforms found an avenue to provide their players with recreational soccer where participation was more important than winning.

The objective of the tournament is camaraderie, community building, discipline and team work, concepts which are often alien to some of the participants.

This year, some 12 teams will participate at the senior level and 4 teams at the U-13 (primary school) level.