By Tiadi Blair
New Amsterdam hosted its first ever awards ceremony honouring athletes past, present and future last Saturday at the New Amsterdam Town Hall.
The event was organized by key players in the association, Marcia Ross and former national football star Ras Roger Alphonso.
The evening began with a formal dinner where local and overseas guests were able to mingle before settling in for a night of entertainment and history of football in New Amsterdam and its genesis in Guyana during the 1970s.
he presence of Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, former mayor of New Amsterdam Errol Alphonso and Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Colin Klass spoke volumes of the importance of football to the community of New Amsterdam and the role of the sport in Guyana.
In his presentation Greene made mention of the need to keep the youths on the positive track because only then will they have productive lives.
“First of all I would like to say a job well done to the organisers and what they are doing with the youths here in New Amsterdam. What we need to do is keep them busy and make the youths productive. There is a lot of potential and ability in Berbice so keep it up.”
GFF President Colin Klass in addressing the audience in the earlier part of the programme paid homage to veteran football players who had represented Guyana on the national team in the 1970s. He also called on New Amsterdam Primary and Secondary Schools Foundation (NAPSS) to put on events of such caliber.
“GFF is ready and willing and is prepared to assure the growth of football in New Amsterdam. We are in the phase of developing a national league with the intent of having it grow into a professional national team.”
Klass in his closing statement suggested that development can be ensured by coordinating programmes with other youth entities, both in New Amsterdam and other parts of the country.
The honours list included veteran footballers, veterans in the sport and past players who represented Guyana at the national level. The star of the night was Adrian Forde who had played under-16 football in Guyana and also played on the national team on many occasions.
After Forde retired he served as coach of the under-23 team and senior teams and his contributions to the sport seemed endless.
The vision of the NAPSS association is to groom secondary school children to play football at a level which can prepare them for national player status. They are also aiming to have Berbicians as part of a national team in the future. Marcia Ross who is the secretary/treasurer of NAPSSs’ overseas branch collaborated with Ras Roger Alphonso to plan the evening awards ceremony. She said that gratitude should be expressed to the football community for all that has been done over the years for the sport. Ross said she was looking forward to more support in the future regarding female footballers, adding that they were talented young women in Berbice and including them in the awards ceremony is an attempt to break down the barriers women faced in the sport. “Young female football players were represented this evening because we wanted to break the barriers by shining light on the females and we are looking forward to more support in the future.”
The main man Ras Roger Alphonso who was honoured for his outstanding contributions to football in Guyana said that he had received much support from the overseas-based community when donating football equipment to the secondary schools in New Amsterdam
Alphonso made it clear that the work NAPSS is doing will continue as they try to include the primary schools in the work they do to promote football in the town.
