Ansa Mc AL through its Tropical Rhythm brand was the first to donate to the Guyana Friends and Family Football Fund (GF&FFF) with a $500,000 donation on Wednesday at a simple ceremony held at their Beterver-wagting, East Coast Demerara office.
Prior to the presentation of the cheque, Marketing Manager of Ansa Mc Al, Troy Cadogan, in brief remarks, stated that the main purpose of the donation was to serve as a motivation to the Golden Jaguars prior to their 2010 World Cup Qualification return fixture slated for Sunday at the Guyana National Stadium, Pro-vidence.
“We know that they have to win and do so handsomely in order to qualify for the next round, thus this donation is being given as a morale booster to the team as they set out to achieve their goal in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.”
Cadogan did promise to make another contribution of some sort after the team defeats Suriname on Sunday.
Prior to making the presentation on behalf of the company, Chief Executive Officer Beverly Harper stated that it was a pleasure to make the donation and an honour to be the first contributor towards the fund.
“We are always delighted to be associated with the development of sports and it is always a pleasure to be making contributions towards the development of sports. But when you are the first one doing so, it is an honourable achievement and we at Ansa Mc Al Limited feel honoured and privileged to be making this contribution to the GF&FFF here today and wish them all the best in their endeavuors,” said Harper.
The GF&FFF is being managed by a three-man committee that comprises Kashif Mohammed, Faizal Khan and Mark Porter.
Put Up or Shut Up
Khan thanked the donors for their worthy contribution and at the same time called on corporate Guyana to put up or shut up when it comes to football in Guyana.
“Today is a very exciting day in Guyana’s football. Today is a day you will be telling your children and grandchildren about. We are here to raise funds both locally and internationally for the Guyana football team.
“I would also like to say that this generous donation by Ansa McAl will be followed up by a bank account being opened with same being highly publicized for the public as well as the business community to support our nation’s footballers and at this time, I would personally like to offer any business individual in this country that ever had a thought or inkling in connection with football and how they can benefit, to get in touch. I also want to say to those out there, to put up or shut up as football is a very high maintenance sport.”
Mohammed in an invited comment, expressed his appreciation toAnsa McAl for being the first to come on board with the GF&FFF.
“We saw the need to get more funds. We see that the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is trying their best to do what they can do and we are willing to give our assistance towards the development of the game of football in Guyana.”
Mohammed who is also one half of the dynamic duo Kashif and Shanghai organization that has been tasked with the duty of coordinating the return fixture on Sunday, also stated that it was the group’s duty not to undercut whatever the GFF was doing for football but to assist in any way possible.
“We will continue after the World Cup as we recognized that apart from the Jaguars, there are cubs also who are in need in the football fraternity. We need to assist all those youngsters.
We see that there is quite a lot of money that is needed if we want them to go far in the sport.
This is something we want to have ongoing and we hope it could be kept there as a parallel arm of the GFF.
“There is definitely no control of the GFF over this fund.
This will be going directly to the team with us informing the GFF that we will be making these donations whenever necessary.”
Muhammad continued: “This fund is not being used as a stipend fund. We want to assist with the general development of football and if there are more things that can be used, for example, there is something they are short on where finance is needed and we are consulted, with our direct involvement with the team, we are more than willing to offer assistance but this is not controlled by the GFF.
“Even though the GFF gives stipends to the youngsters, we don’t know how much they give, but we are willing to help contribute towards this gesture.
“And what we thought of in our committee meetings is once we can help out Bartica, East Coast, Lethem or even Linden, we would as this fund is for football and football only.”
