FOR THE past 21 years, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, a native of Linden, has been a strong supporter of the Kashif and Shangai Football Festival, to the extent that he has sponsored either the first or second placed trophy for the competition, which for the past 23 years was contested amongst the top clubs in Guyana.Hence it was no surprise yesterday, when Prime Minister Hinds showed his continued support for the dynamic duo by sponsoring the first-place trophy for this year’s tournament, which will be played among 24 of the country’s secondary schools, inclusive of the top eight from this year’s Digicel’s nationwide Inter-secondary School tournament.
“I have for quite a number of years, admired the work being done as it relates to football by these two sons of the soil, and this year with them playing their tournament amongst the schools, it is a wonderful thing for the sport.
With that in mind, not only have I agreed to sponsor the first place trophy that you see here, but also to donate 500 tickets to the school children of Linden for the matches which will be played at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground on 27th December,” said Prime Minister Hinds.
In accepting the gesture from Prime Minister Hinds, both Kashif Muhammad and Aubrey ‘Shangai’ Major expressed their heartfelt gratitude and sincerity on behalf of the K&S Organization, while thanking the Prime Minister for the confidence he has continued to show in their work.
Meanwhile, the duo also took the time to extend apologies to Santa Rosa Secondary and other schools who were not given the privilege to compete in the inaugural tournament which kicks off on December 8 and culminates on January 1st at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
In a press release that was electronically signed by Muhammad, the K&S Organization said, “As it is often the case with many startup projects, we anticipate that our current adventure into a football tournament for secondary schools, would not get off to a perfect start.
It was much the same with our previous tournament. It crept before it walked but over time, we refined our organisational procedures and eventually, that tournament became a memorable one and this time around, we expect organizational glitches at the start and there will be times when we have to take it on the chin.”
The release, which was in response to a letter written by an individual from Berbice questioning the non-inclusion of the New Amsterdam Technical Institute not being invited to compete in the tournament, offered an explanation why that was not done.
The K&S Organization also took the time to mention in the press release, the reason why Santa Rosa Secondary School was not invited to do battle for the top prize of G$1.2M, 75% of which will go towards a project identified by the school which tops the competition.
It stated, “Santa Rosa Secondary School met all the criteria for participation, but the cost of bringing the team to Georgetown to do battle, was the reason for their exclusion and after the 24 teams were selected, we learnt that Santa Rosa Secondary School was prepared to finance their own transportation.
It was of course, too late to fix that team into our fixtures and to do so, we would have had to increase participation levels to 32 teams, a decision that would have had significant financial implications on us and in the cases where other teams from the interior regions of Guyana would have been left out of the tournament, we feel particularly regretful.”
The release continued to state, “We can do no more than express that regret and commit ourselves for striving for more fulsome participation in the future. No shortcoming has been a function of deliberate act designed to insult or offend anyone… The assurance that we would wish to give to all the stakeholders in this tournament is that we will strive to be worthy of the confidence vested in us.”
Along with Wismar/Christianburg Secondary, who won the Digicel sponsored tournament again this year, the other top eight schools in that tourney: Waramadong, Covent Garden, St George’s, Leonora, Bladen Hall, Ash Educational Trust and Lodge Secondary have all earned a bye to the next round.
This means that Wisburg, New Silvercity and Mackenzie High (Linden), East Ruimveldt, North Georgetown, Queen’s College, Dolphin, Christ Church and Queenstown (Georgetown) and Stewartville, Uitvlugt, Patentia, (West Demerara) will do battle in the first round.
Also clashing in the first round are: President’s College, Ann’s Grove and Annandale Secondary (East Coast) and Friendship Secondary from the East Bank, where the losers will exit the tournament while the winners go on to face the top eight schools that were given the bye, while all the teams will be outfitted with gear.

(Calvin Roberts)