After confirmation on Wednesday that Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United will appear after all in the 21st Kashif & Shanghai tournament, the players in the proposed replacement team, Ann’s Grove Football Club are feeling disheartened, according to Club President Trevor Waterman.
However, the East Coast Demerara (ECD) club, along with Netrockers of Linden, will have a chance to compete in their second K&S tournament should the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) give them a favourable review.
A letter was written to the GFF by the tournament’s organisers Kashif Mohammed and Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major after they regretted that the team had to be left out due to Alpha’s reinstatement.
President of Alpha Odinga Lumumba had pulled his team from the tournament, which kicks off on December 12 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, after he felt the prize monies were inadequate.
However, he made an about turn by responding favourably to GFF’s letter seeking to determine whether they will be playing in the tournament since the club had not formally notified the association that it had opted out.
Waterman in an interview with Stabroek Sport said that the tournament is the biggest in Guyana and it is “his players’ dream to play in the tournament.”
“It is the number one tournament and all players would like to play, including my players. I knew I (my club) was one of the standby teams and when I heard that Alpha had pulled out there was a moment of joy and the hope is still there although Alpha is now back in.
“We are still optimistic that things will happen because nothing is written in stone and we will participate in this K&S tournament. There was ongoing training but some players became disillusioned by the fact that they were hearing in the media what was going on so everybody was not pulling together,” Waterman explained.
The five year-old club was the fourth placed club on the East Coast in last year’s national league and according to Waterman they are currently making progressive strides in the game and have become a potent unit. The club also boasts two national footballers in Oswald Duke and midfielder Kellon Loncke.
He said that should his team play in the tournament, the players will be ready since his team has always been training. He revealed that on Sunday last his team joined forces with Santos Football Club to conduct a fitness drill on the Seawall Bandstand.
“So far there is a core of people that are optimistic that things will work out and they have been working,” Waterman outlined.
Waterman is also optimistic that his team’s chances of progressing beyond the first round are good since the team has the spirit to win.
Meanwhile, yesterday the organisers of the tournament cleared the air on some of the perceptions that are in the public domain. Mohammed maintained yesterday that with the growth of the tournament there have been more expenses.
Shrewd
Yesterday, at a press conference at the Golden Coast Chinese Restaurant, Main Street, Mohammed said that the organisation has to pay a number of persons to ensure all arrangements go smoothly for the tournament that has “survived for 21 years”.
He attributed the tournament’s continuing success to shrewd business tactics and good money management.
Mohammed indicated also that they are pumping almost “$7.6 million into football and we (the organisers) do not make that in profit,” while adding “we try to manage our funds and it was said that the Kashif and Shanghai are a greedy bunch of people, this is not so.”
Mohammed continued: “Like everything else we have families to maintain and it would be a complete lie if we say we don’t look for a profit. We do look for a profit and we try our best to make sure everybody is okay in this. There is a figure of our price structure of prize monies, levy fees, preparation money that totals over $7.6 million, this is direct monies that go back to football from the tournament; the Kashif and Shanghai don’t make this type of profit, never in our football history.”
However, Mohammed said that with the increase in sponsorship, the full amount of which was not disclosed, most of it went into giving back to sport. Mohammed challenged the organisation’s detractors to not only match what they have done for football in one year but for 20 years.
He pointed out that many tournaments have come and fallen off the radar but the K&S competition has stood the test of the time.
“It was because we have been giving the players the best, sponsors the best, patrons the best, referees the best – we think this is why our tournament has been sustained.
I am not saying that the players are getting enough or they shouldn’t get more but until we get more we will do more for the players,” Mohammed argued.
Mohammed reflected that the tournament started small in 1990 and it grew to a point when after six years the organisers started to send players to tryout for professional teams abroad.
Mohammed said that the organisers were hurt by the lies that have been circulated by persons and therefore it was necessary to set the record straight.
“We are resilient. We are not going to sit back and accept it; we are going to continue doing what we do best, which is promoting.
We are not doctors, lawyers or engineers; we are not politicians and we are not press persons.
This is what we do, we are masters of this game and we have a vision.
“We get together, we plan and we make our plans a beautiful reality. So even though we have a bump in the road, so to speak, we know we will continue to make this better and better,” Mohammed concluded.
