HISTORY will be created today when three Guyanese school teams take on a Trinidad team in the KFC Goodwill football tournament.
Guyana’s Annandale Secondary, winners of the recently concluded Guyoil/Tradewind Tankers Schools Football League, along with runners-up Christiansburg/Wismar Secondary and hinterland team Annai take on Trinidad’s Shiva Hindu Boys’ College from today.

The three-day league format tournament which has each team playing the other once will see the winner decided on points on the final day.

During the official pre-tournament press conference, Petra co-director Troy Mendonca contended that there was one word that surrounded the entire idea from inception, ‘Development’.
“We hope that this tournament creates an environment that motivates players and officials to excel,” he said.

He continued by adding that the three-day tournament augurs well for the school’s football programme and measures where we (Guyana) are in comparison to another Caribbean country and look at areas of improvement.
The co-director continued that the tournament is vital to Petra’s thrust towards developing the sport within the school system, hinting strongly at the possibility of having it on an annual basis with the hope of inviting new countries.

This, he noted, will not affect the inclusion of hinterland teams which will always have a place in the tournament.
Head of the business affairs unit of Ansa McAl, Errol Nelson, recounted the company’s lengthy history with football in Guyana.

He added, “We will continue to be heavily involved for many more years to come. It aligns with the company as obvious in fostering grassroots development and social cohesion.”
Donning two hats, Caribbean Airlines Sales representative and Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Executive Committee member Dion Innis commended the organisation for hosting such a tournament.

“I often ask why there isn’t a regional school tournament of champions and it’s easy for me to say this but the resources needed for it is a lot,” he said.
“We (at Caribbean Airlines) stand shoulder to shoulder with the organisers in making future tournaments possible,” he said, recounting that when history is perused, it will be the Petra organisation that shall be remembered for their bold step.

He picked up on Mendonca’s possibility for expansion by recommending Suriname as the next country the tournament could add to its list of competing teams, saying that the eastern neighbour would be ‘game’ to be a part of the series.

Switching to his GFF hat, he said that the organisation is, “Heartened to hear teams from the hinterland can look forward to having a spot in the tournament.”
He said that organisations and also the Federation have to “make a special effort” to ensure that the hinterland community teams are given the resources like any other team in the country.

Wendy Fernandes, Restaurant General Manager of KFC’s Vlissengen Road branch, told the gathering that “it is an honour to represent KFC. Football is a major sport in Guyana and our future as a footballing nation looks encouraging with the current generation of talented youths.

Today’s match features Annandale playing Wismar/Christianburg from 17:00hrs while Shiva Boys take on Annai from 19:00hrs. Admission is $500.