Georgetown leg kicks off tomorrow

The 2023 edition of the Digicel Schools Football tournament commences today with the Georgetown & East Coast legs at two venues.

The fixtures for the eighth edition of the tournament were revealed on Friday following a press conference at the Brandsville Hotel.

Yesterday, Co-Director of Petra – the organising team, Troy Mendonca, officially released the fixtures, which will see matches being played every weekend until the date of culmination (July 21), and also unveiled the Championship trophy.

A total of 25 secondary schools are registered to contest Georgetown zone while 12 schools are lined up for the East Coast zone and nine schools will compete in the East Coast zone, under the Region 4 leg of the Regional Championship.

The zone formats feature a must-win system that will demand clinical football from the teams that want to make it to the finals. For Georgetown – the top 13 will advance while for East Coast and East Bank – the Regional winner and runner-up in both zones will qualify for the National Championship.

Today at the Moe Ground, the first match between Tucville and Queenstown gets underway at 11:00hrs then East Ruimveldt and South Ruimveldt clash at 12:45hrs, Marian Academy face Ascension at 14:30hrs and the Institute of Academic Excellence goes up against West Ruimveldt at 16:15hrs.

At the NIS Ground, Bladen Hall and Plaisance will collide while La Bonne Intention and Beterverwagting tangle in the two East Coast zone showdowns at 11:00hrs and 12:45hrs and Freeburg will tackle Richard Ishmael at 14:30hrs and Christ Church tangles with Queen’s College at 16:15hrs in the Georgetown zone.

At the unveiling ceremony at Spice Garden, Mendonca disclosed that all systems are in place to get the highly anticipated tournament off the ground and also thanked the sponsor, Digicel, for choosing Petra to administer the countrywide tournament.

He added that the Championship will put an extra boost in the development of grassroots football throughout the country, which is where Petra’s directive is placed.

Digicel’s Chief Commercial Officer, Simone Pierre, who was also at the simple ceremony stated that her company is profoundly ecstatic to once again be able to stage the tournament. Pierre believes the resumption of the tournament is a step in the right direction and Digicel is happy to be able to give youngsters this profound chance.

Over 130 schools throughout Guyana are expected to compete in this season of the Tournament.

Following the regional rounds, a round-of-32 teams will make up a national championship, of which 13 schools will come from Georgetown.

The National Champions will receive $1,000,000 and the championship trophy with second, third, and fourth place finishers getting $500,000, $300,000, and $200,000, respectively.

All incentives will go towards a school project with prizes also expected for the Highest Goal Scorer, Best Goalkeeper and Most Valuable Player.

Chase’s Academic Foundation are the two-time defending champion, after claiming the title in 2016 and 2017, before the six-year hiatus arose.

This tournament was dominated by Christianburg/Wismar Secondary, who won the title consecutively from 2012 to 2015 when they dethroned the inaugural champion, Georgetown Technical Institute (GTI).