… $500 000 for winning team

SIXTEEN teams will compete in the first tournament held under the recently-installed Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Interim Management Committee (IMC), which will kick off on Sunday, August 12, at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground.

“It’s important to let football play,” stated president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde; a sentiment that was also expressed by the GFA/IMC Chairman Trevor Williams.

With STAG Beer as the title sponsor and the only corporate entity to align itself with the tournament, the event will see the inclusion of the U-20 department from the GFF Elite League Clubs; Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Western Tigers, Fruta Conquerors and Buxton United.

Northern Rangers, Pele, Riddim Squad, Beacon, Black Pearl, Guyana Police Force, Camptown, Eastville, Santos, Flamingo, and Order of Disciplines are the other teams in the tournament that will be played in a round-robin, knockout format.

According to Otis James, Chairman of the Competitions Committee of the GFA, 56 games will be played over 16 days, with the top two teams from each group after the round-robin phase moving forward to the knockout stage.

“It’s part of our mandate to see football played again in an organised, and of course sustainable manner in Georgetown, so competitions are going to be high on our agenda,” Williams said.

The GFA IMC Chairman also pointed out that “we wish to thank the GFF also for playing an integral role, and of course STAG Beer for coming on board with this Revival Cup.

The work of the IMC is cut out and at this time I wish to say that we’re very happy to have started this process and have football being played while we continue to work to sort out and stabilise the issues in the GFA.”

Meanwhile, the GFF president noted: “We can all agree that football in Georgetown has long been overdue. It is pointless for us to get into the reasons why we are at this stage, but what I think we should do is concentrate our energies in developing a sustainable programme over the next couple of months, over the next couple of years.”

Forde also highlighted Ansa McAl’s importance as a sponsor of the tournament, stating, “It takes a leap of faith for a sponsor to come into an environment that has been dormant for this long.

Many may question whether there is any commercial value existing any longer in the GFA football set-up. I daresay yes, there is. But it would require the collective effort of all of the stakeholders, more so the clubs, the players and the officials. We have to deliver a product that is worthy of the investment Ansa McAl has committed and the investment the Guyana Football Federation will make.”

The tournament will open with a triple-header at the GFC ground, starting at 15:00hrs, with GDF taking on Northern Rangers, followed by a clash between GFC and Pele, while the Camptown FC versus Police match will pull the curtain down on day one of the competition.