K&S 14th Christmas football festival kicks off today
By Isaiah Chappelle
Guyana Chronicle
December 7, 2003
THE 14th Christmas Football Festival, staged by the Kashif & Shanghai (K&S) Organisation, kicks off today at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground with pomp and ceremony, and a sizzling double header, with championship focus on HIV/AIDS.
Minister of Sport Gail Teixeira is expected to take the salute of the march past, declare the championship open and kick off the ball to formally start the football extravaganza.
The opening double header will re-ignite Georgetown/Linden rivalry, with the veterans meeting in the first match and the senior teams battling in the feature game for the Western Union lien trophy to which Georgetown have already notched their names.
Both senior line-ups will be boosted with players of the National Under-23, more so Georgetown, who gave good accounts of themselves during the Olympic qualifying series, thus the encounter should be a sizzling affair.
Georgetown will have a big choice in the striking line, with stylist Gregory Richardson, who scored in almost every game that he played in the Olympic series, running in tandem with Devon Millington.
Then in the midfield there should be National Under-23 captain Shawn Beveney, power player Jonathan Peters and Dirk Archer.
Coaches would be remiss not to include the fit and game-sharp Under-23 players, boosted with some well-established names of yore.
Linden on the other hand, will depend heavily on immediate past proven greats like Randolph Jerome, who was kicking up a storm in the professional arena of Trinidad & Tobago.
Add the indomitable Charles Rose, Collie Hercules, Wayne Milo, Matthew Pollard, Bobbington King who seemed to have re-migrated, and Adrian Reid and a powerful side, with depth, emerges.
Meanwhile, some 1 300 schoolchildren will see the opening free, the organisers having given each of the 13 schools in the mining community 100 tickets. A similar gesture is accorded Georgetown with 1 500 tickets for the semifinals at the GCC ground, Bourda, on Sunday, December 28.
The competition proper gets under way next week Sunday with another double-header at the same venue.
After then, play moves to the city with the following two matches billed for Camptown ground, Campbellville, on Wednesday, December 17 and Friday, December 19.
On Sunday, December 21, the matches move to the Wales Community Centre ground, for the first time, then on Christmas Day, the big affair will be at the Blairmont Community Centre ground -- the first set of quarter-final matches.
The second set of quarter-final matches will be at the MSC in Linden on Boxing Day, the day the double-header was staged for the first time in 1990 at the same venue.
Semi-final action will be at the GCC ground, Bourda, the big final at the home of the championships on New Year’s Day.
Western Tigers got in by luck this year following the withdrawal of the two Barbadian teams - Deacon Farm and Notre Dame, leaving Courts Caledonia as the only overseas team.
The Tigers have been in the tournament since the mid-1990s, after they were crowned undisputed national champions, having won the inaugural Carib League Cup and the NBIC Champion of Champions knockout trophy.
The newly formed Silver Shattas also secured a place in the wake of the Barbados team pulling out.
Berbice enter as a combined side under the name Cougars All Stars, so do West Demerara under the name Uitvlugt All Stars.
Rupununi are the Hinterland Champions, and much is expected from them, having held Conquerors to a draw during Heritage Month exploits. They will not be at the march past because they are arriving on the coastland on December 15, in time for their first encounter at Camptown ground on December 17.
Patrons will be scanned at all matches as the organisers put tight security processes in place.