… Tiger Bay and top city teams to invade the West Side

AFTER a postponement of just over a week, the Ansa McAl/Stag Beer Inter-Village 5-a-side football tournament will now kick off tonight at the Vergenoegen Rice Mill tarmac from 19:00hrs and some of Guyana’s best street football players will take centre stage. The tournament will see teams from outside of the West Coast and West Bank of Demerara and the East Bank of Essequibo, since, according to the organisers, the overwhelming response has forced their hands to make a change.
“With the inclusion of teams from Georgetown, the tournament is now more interesting and will surely add more than flair and excitement. We were basically bombarded by those teams to be part of it, so, we had to postpone our initial start to accommodate them,” said coordinator Collin ‘BL’ Aaron.
The long-time football administrator and former FIFA Referee pointed out that the tournament will engage over 16 teams, though not giving an exact number, noting “We’ve received more teams that we expected but we’ll chose a sufficient number which will allow us to finish within the stipulated playing dates.”
Apart from the opening action tonight, the tournament will be continuing on August 22, 27, 29 and 31, along with September 3, 5 and grand final on September 7.
While the winners will pocket $200 000, second through fourth places will go home with $100 000, $75 000 and $25 000 respectively.
This is the first time an event of such magnitude is being held on the ‘West Side’ and the organisers are optimistic of a successful tournament, with Aaron pointing out “nothing much is happening in football, especially on the ‘West Side’ and people are hungry for some action, especially the players, so I believe this is a great start for something we hope will be an annual feature which will grow into something big.”
The Vergenoegen Rice Mill tarmac and Pouderoyen Basketball Court are the two venues that will host the event.
Slingerz Family will provide nightly entertainment and apart from the games being free for the football-loving public, lucky patrons will have a chance to cash in on several giveaways.