THE annual Namilco Football Festival officially commenced its fifth staging with a launching ceremony at the Company’s boardroom yesterday, when a sponsorship cheque, valued at $4M, was handed over to the Fruta Conquerors Club, the organising body for the event. Managing Director of the National Milling Company (NAMILCO) Inc, Bert Sukhai opened his brief remarks by stating the prize monies put forth by the company over the years starting in 2007 with a top prize of $400 000.
He said that because of the positive outcome of the tournament, the figures have increased over the years and the tournament now has a top prize of $1M; an increase of more than 100 percent.
“This is an indication of bigger things to come because we at Namilco are prudent of how we invest money and we are encouraged by the terms of play without negative feedbacks, media, fans and seeing the continued development with the club and their plans for future development,” Sukhai said.
Sukhai disclosed that the tournament could not be staged last year because of issues beyond their control, which is why they have chosen to run it off during the January/February period.
He went on to say the company would not be this much supportive had they not gotten back a worthy reward which is not monetary gain but in the satisfaction that the investment had a positive impact on the sport.
Finally, Sukhai expressed his gratitude to the co-sponsors Global Technology, Bayridge Taxi Service, 2J’s General Store and Junior’s Jewellery.
Meanwhile, president of the Fruta Conquerors Club, Marlon Cole, stated that they are pleased to once again be associated with the National Milling Company. He assured them that the tournament will be run in an organised manner, incident-free.
Sunday commences the battle of 16 teams for the top prize of $1M and the Namilco Football Festival title. The runners-up will have to settle for $500 000 while $200 000 and $100 000 will be awarded to the third- and fourth-place finishers respectively.
Individual prizes up for grabs include the Most Valuable Player (MVP), Highest Goalscorer, Best Goalkeeper and Most Disciplined team.
This year’s new inclusion is the Banks All Stars team which is billed to face football giant Alpha United in the feature clash this Wednesday.
The other teams in the battle for supremacy include Riddim Squad, Houston Stars, Sunburst Camptown, University of Guyana, Northern Rangers, Beacon United, Guyana Defence Force, Black Pearl, Santos, Guyana Police Force, Flamingo, Georgetown Football Club, Charlestown United and Fruta Conquerors.
Sunday night in the opening match Sunburst Camptown will go head-to-head with the University of Guyana at 18:00hrs then Northern Rangers and Beacon United will wrap up the night with the feature match from 20:00hrs.