The vacuum created by the uncertainty over this year’s Kashif and Shanghai football tournament could probably be aptly filled by the President’s Cup knockout tournament for which the Georgetown Foot-ball Association (GFA) has submitted a proposal and which could feature the top eight premier teams in the city and the top two first division Georgetown clubs along with teams from Linden, Essequi-bo and even Orealla. There is only one problem with this hypothesis.
Despite the submission of a proposal by the GFA to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, there is still no agreement between the two sides on how and when the six million dollars set aside for the tournament that bears the stamp of President Bharrat Jagdeo, will be doled out. According to knowledgeables within the GFA, the proposal covered how the money will be spent including prize monies and how the teams will benefit.
“But they now asking for our projected gate receipts and what we are putting into the tournament money wise when we know these kinds of questions never really applied before,” one GFA source said. The source did not say outside of the apparent new approach, what the problem was with complying with such a request.
Stabroek Sport understands that the Ministry was not impressed with the proposal that was submitted and suggested that the GFA re-draft the document, spelling out specifics and structuring the proposal in a ‘professional manner.’ Stabroek Sport also understands that the GFA agreed with this suggestion and was to have resubmitted the proposal but so far nothing has been forthcoming.
Meanwhile, the man under whose leadership the President’s Cup saw its advent, Odinga Lumumba, says President Jagdeo’s sponsorship of six million dollars, to the best of his knowledge, was a one off shot, and sporting bodies including the GFA now had to satisfy the Ministry of Sport’s criteria for tapping into funds from the one hundred million dollars allocated for sport this year. Lumumba also pointed out that the President’s Cup was initially sponsored by businessman and civil rights activist Peter Ramsaroop.
