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THE year’s first football tournament, dubbed NAMILCO ‘One Love’ Football Classic, was officially launched yesterday in the boardroom of the National Milling Company Limited (NAMILCO) and gets under way on February 3 at the Tucville ground. The annual event that is organised by the Fruta Conquerors Football Club is an initiative to develop the foot-balling community of Tucville and to keep youths from heading down a destructive path. 16 teams will be drawn from five sub-associations.
This comes in the wake of the recent settlement of the impasse which plagued Guyana’s football for some time, driving the organisers to add the ‘One Love’ theme to the tournament, hoping for it to be contested in good sportsmanship.
Once again, the tournament has seen an increase in prize money and a total sponsorship increase to $4.5M. In 2007, the inaugural year, the total sponsorship for the tournament was $1.6M and since then it has grown significantly.
The winners of this year’s tournament will cart off $1.2M while the runners-up will receive $600 000, third-placers will claim $400 000 and the fourth-place finishers will have to settle for $200 000.
At the launching, best wishes for a successful tournament were extended by acting president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Franklin Wilson and vice-president of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Rawle Adams.
Both personalities stated that they were pleased that the issue that plagued the sport for about two years finally came to rest so that they can resume working together for the betterment of local football.
In the presence of Managing Director of NAMILCO, Bert Sukhai, his Finance Controller, Fitzroy McLeod said, “The theme reflects the fact that now, more than at any other time, there is an awareness that sponsors, administrators, coaches, players and fans alike play different roles but share some common objectives, and only through the coordinated participation of all stakeholders can we realise out common objective of facilitating and witnessing the growth and development of the beautiful game in this nation.”
He continued, “As important as it is the financial investment alone is not enough to make a project of this magnitude happen. It would be remiss of me not to highlight the importance of the roles played by current president of the Fruta Conquerors club, Wayne Forde, immediate past president Marlon Cole and their entire teams in facilitating the successful staging of this event.”
Wilson said, “In making this investment the return that NAMILCO seeks is: high-quality competitive play from all teams, the conspicuous commitment of the governing body and the support of the fans whose gate returns will be ploughed back into the community.”
In Forde’s remarks he said, “Over the past five years they (NAMILCO) have faithfully committed time, thought and enormous resources to a sport that has the potential to single-handedly transform the lives of many individuals, and their communities.”
“I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the management of the National Milling Company for once again collaborating with Fruta Conquerors Football Club to host the sixth edition of the NAMICLO football tournament.” he stated.
Meanwhile, the other playing dates for the tournament are February 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20 and 24. According to Forde, there is a possibility of moving some games to other venues as the tournament advances.
This comes in the wake of the recent settlement of the impasse which plagued Guyana’s football for some time, driving the organisers to add the ‘One Love’ theme to the tournament, hoping for it to be contested in good sportsmanship.
Once again, the tournament has seen an increase in prize money and a total sponsorship increase to $4.5M. In 2007, the inaugural year, the total sponsorship for the tournament was $1.6M and since then it has grown significantly.
The winners of this year’s tournament will cart off $1.2M while the runners-up will receive $600 000, third-placers will claim $400 000 and the fourth-place finishers will have to settle for $200 000.
At the launching, best wishes for a successful tournament were extended by acting president of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Franklin Wilson and vice-president of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Rawle Adams.
Both personalities stated that they were pleased that the issue that plagued the sport for about two years finally came to rest so that they can resume working together for the betterment of local football.
In the presence of Managing Director of NAMILCO, Bert Sukhai, his Finance Controller, Fitzroy McLeod said, “The theme reflects the fact that now, more than at any other time, there is an awareness that sponsors, administrators, coaches, players and fans alike play different roles but share some common objectives, and only through the coordinated participation of all stakeholders can we realise out common objective of facilitating and witnessing the growth and development of the beautiful game in this nation.”
He continued, “As important as it is the financial investment alone is not enough to make a project of this magnitude happen. It would be remiss of me not to highlight the importance of the roles played by current president of the Fruta Conquerors club, Wayne Forde, immediate past president Marlon Cole and their entire teams in facilitating the successful staging of this event.”
Wilson said, “In making this investment the return that NAMILCO seeks is: high-quality competitive play from all teams, the conspicuous commitment of the governing body and the support of the fans whose gate returns will be ploughed back into the community.”
In Forde’s remarks he said, “Over the past five years they (NAMILCO) have faithfully committed time, thought and enormous resources to a sport that has the potential to single-handedly transform the lives of many individuals, and their communities.”
“I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the management of the National Milling Company for once again collaborating with Fruta Conquerors Football Club to host the sixth edition of the NAMICLO football tournament.” he stated.
Meanwhile, the other playing dates for the tournament are February 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20 and 24. According to Forde, there is a possibility of moving some games to other venues as the tournament advances.
