DIRECTORS of the Kashif and Shanghai (K&S) Organisation, Kashif Muhammad and Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major yesterday pointed out that the expulsion of the Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United Football Club from their 21st Football Tournament does not mean that the event will not be highly competitive.
The organisers of the country’s biggest sporting event explained at a press conference held at their Irving Street, Georgetown office, that while Alpha United are without a doubt Guyana’s top football club, they will not be bullied into a decision based on one man’s view of what they (Kashif and Shanghai) should do.
President of the Alpha United Football Club, Odinga Lumumba, last  Monday night on the Supligen Sports Desk aired on BH Ch 9, disclosed his club will not be participating in this year’s tournament.
Lumumba, in other sections of the media, has argued that since the tournament has been running for 21 years in succession, the organisors should raise the prize money from $2M to $3M and also that the teams should be given more for their appearance since they (K&S) have been able to make significant returns from the competition over the years.
The 2010/11 tournament would have marked the Hammers’ fifth year in the tournament and they are without a doubt a force to be reckoned with in the competition.
In 2005, playing in their first tournament, they narrowly went down 1-0 to five-time champions Bakewell Topp XX and lifted the crown in 2007.
The team captured the third place in 2008 and in 2009, they where clipped by BK International Western Tigers for the 2009/10 championship.
Added to that, the club has an excellent track record, winning the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) national club championship twice, along with being the undisputed champions of the then GTT Premier League along with making a clean sweep of almost all the other privately-run tournaments.
“It’s just unfortunate that some of the best players we have to offer will not be on show,” noted Muhammad who is the more vocal of the two.
Among such players being referred to by the organisers are Guyana’s national captain Howard Lowe and strikers Dwight Peters, goalkeeper Ronson Williams and attacking midfield player Dwain Jacobs who are all part of Golden Jaguars team presently participating in the Digicel Cup in Martinique.
“I will never say that Alpha United wouldn’t be missed but it wouldn’t change the outcome of the tournament. Everyone would want to know they play against the best, yes, but then again we wouldn’t allow anyone to bring our tournament to dispute.

PRIZE MONEY
The K&S Director highlighted the 100% increase in prize money for the tournament this year, showing that the players will be vying for $2M cash and a two-year Kit sponsorship valued at US$25 000 along with replicas and trophies which rounded off their first prize money at $7M.
Second place too was boosted with the runners-up pocketing $1M in cash and $2M in kind to a total of $3M.
The player voted Most Valuable Player (MVP) is set to ride off with a motorcycle and sporting equipment valued at US$1 500.
“This is what we don’t understand because I mean, if the Alpha president had a problem, they are ways and means to do things, but we will not be threatened by anyone to give into their demands. We could have sit and discuss this like gentlemen instead of going on about this in the media,” said Muhammad.
A ball park figure of $35M-40M was given as the cost to run this year’s tournament.
“People tend to get carry away by how much it cost to run a tournament like this and we see it as it has to be done. A lot is not taken into consideration like moving the teams around and also we are giving each team that reaches the quarterfinals $50 000 each. So we don’t understand what Mr Odinga is saying and why he is carrying on,” added the organiser.
Efforts to contact Lumumba at the time of this report proved futile. However, his club, Alpha United was replaced by Ann’s Grove United.
The 21st edition of the Kashif and Shanghai Football Tournament will kick off on December 15 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, with  Riddim Squad facing Bakewell Buxton Stars in the opening clash and defending champions BK International Western Tigers coming up against Buxton United.