THE Golden Jaguars – Guyana’s senior national men’s football team – yesterday received what head coach Jamaal Shabazz is calling a “timely and much needed financial intervention” from the distributing giant Ansa McAl ahead of their 2018 World Cup qualifier campaign. Ansa McAl, under their Stag Beer brand, signed a deal which, Managing Director Beverly Harper said, is of an undisclosed sum, at their Beterverwagting (BV) headquarters.
Harper pointed out that the company’s monetary ties to the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) will stretch past the June 10 and 14 World Cup Qualifying matches and would also be given on a performance basis.
Guyana will play St Vincent and the Grenadines in a home-and-away format. The Golden Jaguars will travel to face the ‘Vincy Heat’ on June 10 and would then return home where they will play the second leg at the Guyana National Stadium on June 14.
Harper said that as a company “all we can ever ask for is for the team to do their best and I’m calling on the entire Guyana to lift these guys. They’ve worked hard to get here and while St Vincent is a tough team, I want every single Stag drinker in Guyana out there to support the Golden Jaguars”.
The Ansa McAl Managing Director thanked the GFF for giving them the opportunity to sponsor the country’s National side, adding “This Golden Jaguars team is very special to us. Yes we’re a part of a company that’s Trinidad-based and is all over the Caribbean but the Guyana subsidiary is a company that has been here for 22 years. We’re just as nationalistic as any other company.”
Shabazz lauded Ansa McAl and Stag Beer for not only coming on board but doing so from the beginning of the team’s journey to Russia.
“Its important to get the support from the start because against St Vincent it’s not going to be a stroll in the park,” Shabazz said.
According to the Golden Jaguars head coach, “It’s not a football team that comes out of the group and advances in the World Cup qualifying, it is a country and for a country to advance all hands must be put on deck; everybody must put a hand.”
A call was also made to the rest of corporate Guyana to follow Ansa McAl’s lead and support the Golden Jaguars.
Meanwhile, captain Chris Nurse said Ansa McAl’s input will help in allowing the coaching staff to elevate the standard of the team and their preparation in camp and will also allow the players in the team to focus all their attention on training and the task ahead.
“These sponsors’ coming on board right now is crucial for us if we want to have success as a team. We promise as a team to go against St Vincent and give our best to make our country proud and to give back to all the people who are giving to us,” Nurse said.

By Rawle Toney