By Stephan Sookram

EXXONMOBIL has joined forces with the Petra Organisation for the second instalment of the Schools Football tournament.

At the launching yesterday at Cara Lodge, organisers announced that the 2019 edition of the tournament will also feature a segment for both boys and girls.

The boys’ tournament gets going next Saturday while the girls’ tournament is set for a June 29 commencement. Matches are expected to be played at the Ministry of Education (MoE) ground.

In attendance at the launch were head of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Wayne Forde; Deedra Moe, Senior Officer of Public and Government Affairs (ExxonMobil); Troy Mendonca, co-Director of Petra Organistion (the promoters of the event) and Lorraine Barker-King, Administrator of the Unit of Allied Arts.

Mendonca said, “ExxonMobil came on board last year and we are proud that they are on board for another year”, further noting, “This tournament will be played predominantly among Georgetown teams with a few teams from the East Coast and East Bank being invited.”

Forde took the opportunity to formally invite Petra Organisation to use their recently commissioned National Training Centre all-weather football pitch, located at Providence, since rain might threaten play at the MoE ground.

Forde also mentioned that any support Petra Organisation and MoE need, GFF will be willing to assist since “the GFF has more than enough certified coaches at its disposal”.

ExxonMobil’s Moe shared during the launch, “When we look at how we can engage the community, we look at empowerment and sports as a good means of such because of the cohesion it fosters, the leadership skills and the development of a person as a whole.

“We are excited to be working with Petra, the GFF and the MoE. I’m excited to see what the winners will do in terms of a project for their school this year.”

Barker-King of the MoE’s Unit of Allied Arts explained, “We (MoE) encourage well rounded students and we appreciate this collaboration which will help increase participation in this sport (football).

A total of 24 male teams will be divided into six groups for the group round-robin/knockout format that was used last year, while there will be 12 female teams.