ALPHA ‘The Hammer’ United leaves Guyana today for the 4th edition of the Inter Guiana Club Championship set for French Guiana this week.
The leading Guyana club side is yet to win this championship which is in its fourth year and has been organised by the respective federations of French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana aimed at foster development of the game between the three nations.
In the inaugural year also hosted by the French, home side Gelder de Kourou triumphed while Suriname’s top club Inter Moengotapoe won at home the following year and in Guyana last year.
Alpha, being the dominant club in Guyana for the past five years, has been Guyana’s representative and will be aiming this time around to break the losing championship jinx.
The club has created history by becoming the first Guyana club side to qualify for the CONCACAF Club Championship having finished as the third best in the Caribbean Football Union following victory over T&T Pro League Champions Defence Force in the third place playoff at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence recently.
‘The Hammer’ will be seeking to knock over their opponents this time around in French Guiana and lift the championship trophy for the first time.
To achieve this feat, a strong 17-man squad will be tasked with that responsibility. While the squad will be missing a few players who were part of the history-making experience in the CFU Club Champions Cup, the Technical staff is quite confident that the current crop of players can return with the first place trophy.
The experienced Richard Renolds will take over duties between the uprights with the departure of number one choice Ronson Williams who has migrated to the USA.
With regular captain Howard Lowe and a few other teammates playing for team Guyana in the Digicel Caribbean Cup in the United States of America the remaining players will have to step up to the plate this week.
The likes of Shawn Bishop, Anthony Abrams, Warren Gilkes, Travis Grant, Selwyn Isaacs Kelvin McKenzie and Shavane Seaforth will have to lead the charge.
The only other Guyanese team that would have taken part in this competition was the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) when it was hosted here and this was so since the host nation has the privilege of fielding its number one and two teams.
The full squad reads: Richard Renolds, Shavane Seaforth, Shawn Bishop, Travis Grant, Anthony Abrams, Warren Gilkes, Quincy Madramootoo, Kelvin McKenzie, Leon Grumble, Clive Andries, Alex Murray, Keon Sears, Andrew Murray, Selwyn Isaacs, Alpha Sylvester, Quacy Johnson and Chris Camacho.
Head of delegation is GFF vice-president Franklin Wilson with Conrad Parris serving as Manager.
The other officials are Wayne Dover (Head Coach), Gavin Browne (Assistant Coach), Trevor Burnett (Equipment Manager), Perry Bonus (Assistant Equipment Manager).  
The team is leaving one day ahead of planned in order to be issued the necessary visas to travel to French Guiana. These visas will be issued in Suriname since they are no longer done in Guyana.