Berbice’s Cougars Football Club and Georgetown’s Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United have both booked a place in the semi-finals of the second annual Bakewell Buxton Stars-organized, Mackeson Stout/Digicel-sponsored Sweet 16 football tournament.
They both recorded quarter-final victories over tournament host Bakewell Buxton Stars and Pele Football Club respectively, with Cougars winning 3-2 whilst Alpha gained a walkover from Pele at the Plaisance Community Centre ground on Saturday night.
In the Cougars/Buxton encounter, Kwame Moffat sent the tournament host into the lead in the eight minute, only to see Kurt Bristol make it null and void with his 27th minute strike for Cougars, who went further into the lead when Hubern Angus found the back of the net in the 41st minute.
Following a 2-1 deficit at the half, Bakewell Buxton’s Owen Babb ensured his team remained in the tournament with his 78th minute strike, but Horace Roach took the fight out of his teams’ opponents, when he found the back of the net in the 86th minute, to set up a clash for Cougars against the defending champions Sunburst Camptown tomorrow night at the same venue.
Meanwhile, Pele who are the reigning Kashif and Shangai champions, was a no show for their encounter with Alpha, citing improper playing conditions at the venue of the tournament.
Speaking with Stabroek Sports, president of the protesting club and former national custodian Cecil Jacques stated in a letter written to the secretary of the organizing club that conditions at the venue were not the best for the good of the game.
“This tournament is the premier knock out tournament on the East Coast and has attracted the best teams attached to the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) and those from the East Demerara Football Association (EDFA).”
“But after inspecting the pitch personally following our first round match against Western Tigers on Saturday 25th April, where I noticed many unpredictable diversions of the ball when played in a particular direction, I observed cow hooves and small holes in the surface” said Jacques.
He continued to state, “Apart from such, another observation was the improper lighting of the venue, which is poor for night football. In one instance, the referee admitted not seeing the goalkeeper touching a ball over the cross bar for a corner and awarded a goal kick instead and this is because of the poor lighting.”
Jacques stated that whenever his player/s encounter any injury or injuries on the field, his club has to stand the cost of that player/s medical bills and with a long season ahead, including preparations for the defence of their Kashif and Shanghai title, he cannot afford to have his players compete under such conditions.
Treasurer of the organizing club Sheron Abrams in an invited comment stated that she is saddened to know that such a protest was being lodged at this stage of the tournament.
“It is real sad to see the state local football is coming to, where persons are dictating what they want and don’t want, especially when it comes to their team being involved in a match. I am renting a ground from somebody and when we ask for certain things, we are not getting much cooperation.”
She continued to state, “It is so difficult on us to get cooperation, that we encountered several problems to get the National Parks Commission (NPC) cutter on the ground, to cut the field for this tournament. But what is more appalling, is that these teams played on the same ground in last year’s tournament and having looked back at such a tournament, we decided that improvements needed to be made for this year’s competition, including upgrading the ground.”
The semi finals of the tournament will kick off tomorrow night at the same venue, with Alpha taking on the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) from 1800hrs, whilst defending champions Sunburst Camptown and Cougars square off from 2000hrs in the feature game.
