COME this Saturday, either the Wales Community Centre, Georgetown Football Club (GFC) or Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) grounds will be buzzing with activity, when the Ansa McAl/Stag Beer-sponsored Slingerz Football Club (SFC) ‘Goal for Gold’ Championship kicks off with a double header from 18:00hrs

The tournament was launched yesterday in the boardroom of the beverage distribution giant, where SFC manager Colin Aaron told his audience how happy he was about the collaborative effort between his club and the women’s arm of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF).
“The initiative taken by SFC as it relates to this tournament is to help develop and promote women’s football across Guyana. Added to that, we decided that it was necessary to raise funds for both women’s football and our club, to sustain the two genders of football, hence the collaboration.
In the past, we used a few women’s games, but they were playing by themselves but in this case the women’s tournament will be run simultaneously with the male tournament, with the women getting into action when the male tournament reaches the quarter-final stage, while they will play their semifinal matches on the same day when the men will be doing battle,” said Aaron.
He added that this decision was taken so the women can have an opportunity to showcase their talent in front of an audience and not in front of an empty venue, at the same time encouraging more women to come out and support the women’s association to get on board and develop a club structure for women.
“Slingerz will partner with anybody for the growth and development of football,” stated Aaron who added that the club has about 80 young players training every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning.
“Slingerz wishes to be a part of CONCACAF Club tournament and by doing that we need to raise funds for the club which is six months old. Following their formation last January, we hosted and won a West Side tournament, while we placed second in this year’s Mayor’s Cup, losing 1-0 to Alpha – a loss we will be avenging in the ‘Goal for Gold’ tournament.”
In her brief remarks, executive member of the GFF, Vanessa Dickenson, commended both SFC and Ansa McAl/Stag Beer for realising one of the Women Association’s objectives towards their 2013/2014 programme, which involves partnership and working in schools with the players.
Public Relations Officer of Ansa McAl, Darshanie Yusuf, said the uniqueness of the tournament was one of the highlights that drew her company’s attention and ensured the sponsorship of the tournament.
“The uniqueness of this tournament, which sees it incorporating women’s football with the men’s, attracted us because while the female football was not getting enough attention since it was now developing, we are very happy to see this group bring together these aspects.
“You hear of the male players and their talent. Due to this group, we can now hear about the women as well, as they have amazing talent, but not getting the opportunity to showcase it. Hence our happiness at the uniqueness of this tournament, thanks to Slingerz with whom we have worked on numerous occasions before, while we love the fact that persons can bring such ideas to us.”
Ansa McAl/ Stag Beer Brand Manager John Maikoo also expressed his happiness and privilege given to his company who is the sole distributor of Stag Beer in Guyana, to be a part of such a unique tournament, following its sponsorship of the West Side tournament that was hosted in February.
As it relates to the technical aspects of the tournament, six female teams, comprising two from Berbice along with one each from Georgetown, Linden, West Demerara and Bartica, will engage each other from the fifth day of the male tournament, at which point the quarterfinals will kick off.
At the moment, the top female team are set to walk away with $100 000 and the runners-up half of that, but, with the organisers seeking more sponsorship for this segment of the tournament, those prizes can receive a 100% increase, while a third- and a fourth-place prize of $50 000 and $25 000 respectively will be paid out.
On the male side, 16 male teams namely Fruta Conquerors, Pele, Alpha, Seawall, BK Western Tigers, Topp XX, Milerock, Net Rockers, Rosignol United, Guyana Defence Force, Grove Hi-Tec, Riddim Squad, Den Amstel, Uitvlugt and Slingerz will do battle for the first place prize of $2M, with matches being played across Guyana, at grounds in Berbice, Linden, Georgetown and West Demerara.
The second- to fourth-placed teams will pocket $1M, $500 000 and $300 000 respectively with the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) riding off with one Honda motorcycle, when the tournament culminates on Sunday, September 1, at either the Uitvlugt or GCC ground.