Christmas is the season of goodwill and it is the time of year Guyanese footballers eagerly await, more than any other period in the calendar.

That anticipation is created by the staging of the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament which gives players the opportunity to fully experience the spirit of Christmas by winning nice gifts and to play in the biggest tournament of the year without incurring much expense.

Because it has been staged for the last 11 years and has consistently lived up to all expectations every time, especially the big prize money benefits on offer, Kashif and Shanghai has become the most anticipated competition over the years.

Clubs have enjoyed benefits from the tournament like no other over a lengthy period, which led this year to big demands being made from organisers, because it was felt they could afford to.

The sequence of events which followed the attempt by the Georgetown Football League to hold the tournament to ransom because it felt the clubs deserve more from the promoters, left the organisers facing their first major problem and a big blot on an otherwise impeccable record.

The call was for more money in the form of appearance fees and bigger cash prizes , among other demands, lest the Georgetown clubs be banned, if they went against the dictates of the GFL.

The fact that the threats never materialised after the Georgetown body backpedalled on the majority of its initial demands, following the settling of differences between its executives and the Kashif and Shanghai directors, the encounter between the two parties nevertheless, highlighted one of many problems footballers have experienced over the years.

For as long as memory can recall, the men in their capacity as players have lived a menial existence.

They play endless tournaments during the year and the majority earn nothing in the form of renumeration for their efforts.

Even if football in Guyana remains mired in amateur status, players still do not even enjoy training expenses in the form of stipends as is the norm in neighbouring countries, similar in population size and economy to the Land of Many Waters.

This state of affairs could be attributed to the non-support the sport experiences from the business community here.

In some regional countries clubs are owned by established businesses while in others they receive substantial sponsorship from which renumeration trickles down to the players.

Sadly here, nothing even leaks to the players as the clubs earn nothing for their activities in amounts that would allow for regular stipends.

There may be rare occasions when clubs win prize money which may be shared by the players and coaches, but there is no guarantee a club has anything to earn when they step onto the field for competition, because no more than the top four teams earn prizes.

Thus clubs have no source of income apart from those good enough to earn prize money for which there is no guarantee, which in most cases is inadequate to properly compensate players.

But there is one means by which a start can be made.

Our clubs may be light years away from the standard of the professional outfits in Europe and South America, but in an era when footballers, particularly from the former continent are earning fantastic salaries, it is pitiful our players cannot even be guaranteed a measly stipend.

Thus the time is right for the powers that be ensure that all clubs earn something whenever they play by sharing in some of the spoils promoters earn, to assist in player-development.

For invitational knockout tournaments like Kashif and Shanghai, all of the invited teams should be guaranteed prize money whether they win the title or are eliminated in the first round.

Of course the winner would get the biggest prize and the first round loser the smallest and the others in between, varying in amount from the lower rounds upwards.

The bare fact is that the fans show up to see the teams play and they flock the grounds because they are entertained by those clubs.

In England the threat of the first ever football strike threatened recently because players demanded more money from the growing television revenue the ruling body earns.

The fact that the players' demands were met emphasised the value of the player, which should be no different anywhere else in the world.

It does not mean that Kashif and Shanghai should fork out more cash from its coffers. The hefty levy fee of $550,000 it pays to the sub associations should be significantly reduced to realise prize money for all the participating clubs.

This year all five the Georgetown teams will earn approximately $35,000 or more because of the generosity of the GFL, but the other teams will not, because the sub-associations are likely to pocket their levy fees as is the norm.

Similarly, in league tournaments, clubs should be guaranteed a percentage of all revenue, gates and otherwise, for every match they play.

In this way clubs will be forced to give to players and bring this country in line with the rest of the region.

Because it is only right that a man earn whenever he sweats.