In a simple ceremony yesterday the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) officially launched the inaugural Western Union First Division Football League in the conference room of Grace Kennedy Remittance Service, Water Street.
Present at the handing over ceremony was Marketing Manager of Grace Kennedy, Natheeah King who made brief remarks on the partnership between the business entity that operates under the slogan ‘The fastest way to send money – worldwide’ and the football association.
King stated, “It is with great honour that we (Western Union) pledge our support to this worthy venture.”
In addition she stated that the company is one that can be depended on. “Western Union sees itself as the crossroad where youths and sports meet, and as a result will give support where it can touch lives meaningfully. Western Union is known internationally for its reliability to customers, hence, today this sponsorship reinforces our reliability, our caring and our commitment to football in Guyana.”
In closing she charged the GFA and the players who will be competing in the league to execute their job in a professional manner which would make them recognizable in society as leaders.
The tournament involves nine Georgetown First Division teams and will be contested in order to elevate two teams to the Premier League level in 2009.
Each team will challenge each other once in the round robin stage and the top four teams will advance to what was named the ‘Super Four’ where they will play each other once and the two top teams will go on to gain Premier League status.
A top prize of $150,000 is set for the victors in the tourney, $75,000 for the runner-up, and $50,000 and $25,000 for third and fourth places respectively. Each monetary award will be made along with a trophy while individual prizes such as the Highest Goal Scorer, Most Valuable Player, Best Goal Keeper and Most Disciplined team are also up for grabs.
The nine teams that will be competing in the tournament which begins on May 10 are Northern Rangers, Santos FC, Houston Stars, Beacon United, Uprising, Black Pearl, Thomas, Riddim Squad and the University of Guyana.
