32 teams – $500,000 first prize up for grabs
Thirty-two teams drawn from Georgetown, Linden and Berbice will be participating this year in the English/Kashif and Shanghai Mackeson-sponsored Futsal Tournament at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The 6th edition of the tournament which will be held from September 6 to October 3 was officially launched yesterday at the head office of Ansa McAl, the sole distributor of the Mackeson Power Stout brand, and according to the organizers this year would be much better than the five previous times it was hosted.
But unlike the earlier years, Frank ‘English’ Parris said that the tournament would be played on a win or go home basis.
In 2000 when the tournament was first played, it featured 24 teams in a group/knockout format which allowed teams to play more than one game.
This arrangement was left in place for the other four events but after a review by the trio, it was concluded that the tournament was a bit drawn out and was wanting in intense intensity from the opening night so the idea of a knockout format came into being. “We have improved the prize money significantly this year and the amount of teams as well because of the growth in the sport over the years. There will be lots of giveaways and entertainment so we just want everyone to come out,” Parris said.
The winner’s purse is $500,000 while second through fourth place will take home $250,000, $150,000 and $100,000 respectively.
Security
The last tournament in 2007 was marred by controversy and a fallout with the National Sports Commission (NSC) because of complaints by patrons and it was stalled for a few days.
After that a no-nonsense approach was taken by the promoters that saw several persons being arrested for attempting to enter the CASH with illegal items.
Kashif Mohammad affirmed that this year security would be even tighter because a reoccurrence of 2007 was an option.
He assured that protection would be extended to spectators’ vehicles in the parking lot and they would also try to secure those that would be parked on the road.
Meanwhile Marketing Director of Ansa McAl, Troy Cadogan said that his company thought it fit to fully sponsor the event because of the integrity of the promoters and the ever growing popularity of Futsal in Guyana.
“Our involvement in this tournament starts back in 2002 when we were just a normal sponsor but this year we decided to take a leap of faith and become a full sponsor because of the excitement of the previous tournaments and in addition Futsal is one of the fastest growing indoor sports and we just want to put a lock on it,” said Cadogan.
Fruta Conquerors have two holds on the championship trophy, having won in 2000 and 2007 while BK International Western Tigers and Flamingo are the other teams to have won the event.
However, in 2003 the tournament was played as an inter-ward event and that year Bent Street came out on top.
