– decision to be made on venue for finals
By Rawle Toney
The playing dates and venues for one of Guyana’s most prestigious sporting event, the annual Kashif and Shanghai football tournament has been officially released.
After a break of six years the tournament returns to the East Coast of Demerara with matches slated for the Plaisance Community Centre and Buxton grounds.
According to co-coordinator Aubrey `Shanghai’ Major, who along with Kashif Muhammad are the organizers of the tournament, the decision to return games to the East Coast is part of the organisation’s plan to spread the game to a wide cross section of Guyana.
Major also pointed out that this year the East Coast of Demerara area had played host to several tournaments and was successful in the areas of spectators’ attendance and the level of play.
Sixteen of the country’s top clubs will battle starting with the first game on December 17 at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground (MSC) for the right to be crowned Kashif and Shanghai champions.
Action then moves to the East Coast of Demerara with matches at the Plaisance Community Centre ground on December 19 and Buxton on December 21.
Football returns to the MSC Ground on December 23 while the Christmas Day extravaganza will be held at the National Stadium, Providence.
The MSC ground at Linden will then host games scheduled for Boxing Day (December 26) and December 28.
And, for the first time in 19 years, the organisers have found themselves between a rock and a hard place in choosing a possible venue for the final of the tournament which will be held on January 1.
The two possible venues are the National Stadium at Providence and the Mackenzie Sports Club ground.
Ever since the first installment of the tournament in 1989, the Mackenzie Sports Club has hosted the final.
However, with the attendance increasing every year some persons think that the final has out grown the facility in the mining community.
The organizers have toyed with the idea of hosting the final at the world famous GCC ground, Bourda, but that facility has only hosted a couple of semi-final matches.
In 2006 the Providence Stadium was built for the hosting of Super 8 matches of the inaugural World Cup cricket competition in the Caribbean but only cricket was played there until recently when the second leg of FIFA World Cup qualifiers between Guyana and Suriname was held at the 20,000-seat facility.
The Stadium was also used during Guyana’s hosting of Group ‘B’ matches of the Digicel Caribbean Cup football tournament and the final of the Alpha United’s Carifesta Invitational football tournament.
