BRASS Aluminium and Cast Iron Foundry Limited (BACIF) has joined forces with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) to offer 12 trainee apprenticeships for male and female footballers, as part of its package of support for the year-end trio of football competitions and its ongoing partnership with the GFF.

BACIF, the designer and creator of the official trophy for the GFF-Kashif & Shanghai (K&S) Super 16 Cup, made the announcement during the handing-over of the refurbished 2021 tournament trophy and a new “golden boot” for the most valuable player (MVP).

“Football transcends,” said BACIF Managing Director Peter Pompey. “BACIF is willing to accept, in 2022, 12 young persons as trainees on programmes that can see their development in the area of the various skills we are involved in. We have to look at the development of football and young people in totality.”

Pompey said the BACIF football trainee programme would offer male and female players “from across the various regions in Guyana the opportunity to come to this organisation and, over 12 to 18 months, be trained in a lifelong skill that can really substantially contribute to their wellbeing and future development”.

BACIF, a pillar of Guyana’s manufacturing and engineering sector for more than 50 years, will offer training in the following technical disciplines: design and technical drawing, pattern-making, foundry technology, fitting and machining, fabrication and welding, and quality principles.

The initiative follows hot on the heels of the GFF/MACORP partnership to provide industrial excavator training to 10 male and female footballers and to build on the current GFF Executive Committee’s focus on fostering a lifelong pathway of opportunity for players, coaches and match officials, on and off of the field of play.

“We have made a commitment to ensure that our players are well prepared to transition from football into a productive life,” said GFF president Wayne Forde.

“To have 12 footballers, male and female, participating in one year to 18 months of training here at BACIF, learning very important skills that they will be using for the rest of their lives in an ever-demanding construction and engineering sector in Guyana, is historic in any context.”

“I would like to offer our thanks, on behalf of the GFF and our players, for the warmth and generosity of BACIF,” Forde said. “These are the initiatives and partnerships that can really have a lasting impact on the livelihood of footballers.

“We, at the GFF, plan to engage other organisations for them to provide similar opportunities to other footballers and we call on any so desirous to feel free to engage us. We are also looking at a raft of initiatives, including scholarships to local tertiary institutions like UG, GTI, GITC, Carnegie and other such institutions. Now is the time for corporate Guyana to step up and make a positive difference for footballers,” said the GFF president.

The GFF-BACIF training programme will be open to individuals of good character over the age of 18 who are registered with GFF and its members. GFF members will be asked to propose candidates, with an official selection panel making the final decision.

“Football requires partnerships to grow,” Forde continued. “What we have seen over the past few weeks is a community of corporate sponsors investing in these tournaments to give young people the opportunity to participate in football.”

The trio of festive football tournaments, including Guyana’s first women’s Super 16 year-end tournament and a futsal competition, marks the return to play for football after the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The competitions, staged with the support of K&S, the Government of Guyana, the Guyana National Women’s Football Association and a host of corporate partners, build on the GFF’s work with UEFA, the European governing body of football, and CONCACAF to prepare for the safe and sustainable return of play at all levels.