… ‘The Knockout’ stage to kick off on November 14

CO-DIRECTORS within the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation, Kashif Muhammad and Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major, and their planning committee which includes Colin ‘BL’ Aaron yesterday morning briefed the media as it relates to preparations for their upcoming 25th annual year end extravaganza tournament.

While they have not received official word as it relates to being given the green light for this year’s edition of a tournament that has contributed tremendously in more ways than one towards the development of Guyana’s football over the past two and half decades, the dynamic duo were confident of receiving same from the Normalisation Committee which will be set up to run the affairs of the game.
The Normalisation Committee was ordered by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Head of Member Associations, Premo Cavaro, and CONCACAF Director of Legal Affairs, Marco Leal, and will run Guyana’s football until September 2015.
Prior to such a welcome announcement, the K&S Organisation had submitted to Christopher Matthias, the ousted president of the Guyana Football Federation, their intentions to organise the annual year end tournament, for which they were given certain requirements that needed to be fulfilled.
In an invited comment yesterday, Muhammad said that while they had made the application to the-then GFF Administration, they are awaiting the installation of the Normalisation Committee, hoping they won’t have to but still willing to make a re-application if needs be.
“We wrote the-then Christopher Matthias-led GFF with our intentions and got a response outlining the necessary requirements we will need to have along with the various logistics, which we have worked on and continue to work on.
From all perspectives, I am quite confident we will be given the nod to host this tournament once again, bringing to football-loving fans the excitement and camaraderie in a much better way through the Kashif and Shanghai tournament this time around,” said Muhammad.
He added, “We have this confidence, based on our contribution to football in previous years through the tournament and with things being stagnant at the moment, we are more than confident we will be the sole owners of this allotted time. We know there is a process that we have to go through with the setting up of the Normalisation Committee.
And once football is regularised, we are confident of giving the fans another wonderful tournament and even though we are unaware of the Normalisation Committee making the approval of the sub-associations an issue we are still prepared to talk with the sub-associations to avoid problems.”
Quizzed on the format which will be used for this year’s edition, Muhammad said his Organisation will be hosting a category called ‘The Knockout’, which will involve all 69 playing first division teams from sub-associations affiliated to the GFF.
“We, at the K&S Organisation would be funding the playing of this knockout tournament, which will involve all the teams from all the sub-associations, which are Georgetown (16), Linden (13), West Demerara (12), East Bank and East Coast (8 each), Berbice (7) and Bartica (5) and which kicks off on November 14.
From this tournament, the best 8 teams out of Georgetown, 2 each from Linden, West Demerara and East Bank, 3 from East Coast and one from Berbice with an alternate also coming from Linden will advance to the actual tournament which gets under way on December 14 with the Crème de la Crop,” said Muhammad.
Proceeds from matches contested in ‘The Knockout’ will go towards the sub-association in which the game was hosted, even as the K&S Organisation will provide the prize for the top three finishers of this stage of the tournament.
“We don’t just want teams to turn up and say we are playing in the K&S tournament like in times past, but rather teams must earn their right to play in the tournament, based on their performances in ‘The Knockout’, which means you either win and advance or lose and go home,” said ‘BL’ Aaron.
As it relates to the prize money for the actual tournament which will culminate on New Year’s Day, Muhammad said same is being worked out along with other logistics at the moment.
Asked about the Inter-Secondary School tournament that was played last year, it was disclosed that same will be held next year as the K&S Organisation is currently holding talks with the Ministry of Education and the Allied Arts Unit, looking for a slot with Beharry Group of Companies on board as sponsor.
“When we looked at the time the Inter-School tournament was played last year, the conditions underfoot was not conducive for the younger players, so we decided to shift that back to a slot that will be decided upon by the Ministry of Education during the year, and leave this year for the seniors.” said Muhammad in closing.

(By Calvin Roberts)