… objective is to start a semi-professional league – Rose
WITH the aim of starting a semi-professional basketball league in Guyana, the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) launched its national Super-Ward Basketball tournament at its Campbellville headquarters yesterday. Ten wards, drawn from the capital city of Georgetown, the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara, Linden and Berbice, will compete in the tournament which fetches a first prize of $500 000.
The competition will bounce off on Saturday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall at 19:00 h with the opening game pitting Charlestown/Albouystown against East Bank Demerara and a presuming explosive North Ruimveldt side will face East Coast of Demerara.
Speaking with Chronicle Sport yesterday, GABA president Trevor Rose informed that initially the tournament was set to feature eight wards but after going back to the drawing board, two wards (Kitty/Campbellville and South Ruimveldt) were drafted in.
“We want to give as many players the exposure, so we brought in the two wards, because we know that a lot would be happening at the national level so we want these players to have a chance to be spotted and maybe get at least a call to the national side for any future engagements that the Federation might have,” said Rose.
The ten wards will be placed in two groups and with team playing four matches, then the top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals and finals that will be played in a two best-of-three system.
The Darcel Harris-led North Georgetown by virtue of winning last year’s Inter-Ward tournament will be seeded number one and they will be placed in Group-A which also has the likes of New Amsterdam, East Coast Demerara, Kitty/Campbellville and Christianburg, who are one of two teams from Linden in the tournament.
In Group-B, which is called the group of death, Dwayne ‘Brown Sugar’ Roberts’ Albouystown/Charlestown; runners-up to North Ruimveldt, will clash with pre-tournament favourites Central Mackenzie who many believe are strong challengers to the ‘big bucks’, along with South Ruimveldt, East Bank of Demerara and the always threatening Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust.
Apart from taking home the $500 000, the winners will have a massive trophy for keeps. $250 000 will go the second-best team in the tournament while third and fourth will carry home $150 000 and $75 000 respectively.
The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament will receive a new pair of Lebron James ‘3’ Nike Sneakers and a trophy all compliments of Giftland OfficeMax, one of the sponsors of the event. Prizes will also be given to the player who grabs the most rebounds and the most assists.
Ansa McAl, under its Mackeson imported Stout, is the major sponsor of the tournament since it is understood that the company is spending lavishly behind the initiative.
Some of the other companies who are on board in a major way are the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T), Gizmos and Gadgets, Tony’s Auto Spares, Stain Masters Limited and Cops Security System.
But apart from bringing quality entertainment, the National Inter-Ward tournament could soon be transformed into a semi-professional Basketball League according to Rose.
The GABA head explained that “all the wards will draft players from the Georgetown league and competitions in their respective wards and then, based on the amount and sponsorship we gained from this competition on an annual basis, players will be able to be paid to play basketball instead of just playing for fun”.
Asked when he would like to see this idea blossom into reality, Rose said, “We are aiming to make it possible next year, that’s why we are placing so much financial emphasis into this tournament because we want it to be executed properly so next year sponsorship-wise we wouldn’t have this problem.”
Rose pointed out that they have “received sanctioning from the federation (Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation) and they are tasked with the responsibility for the officiating of the tournament; also there will be a disciplinary committee in place which will have personnel from LABA, GABA and the federation”.