The Kashif & Shanghai Organisation, reeling from the effects of an opposition boycott call and football fraternity feud between the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) is confident these will soon blow over and fans will be forgiving and return to the spectator stands.
On New Year’s Day the football final of the Kashif & Shanghai annual tournament was held at the Providence Stadium along with an-after football concert featuring Jamaican reggae superstar Jah Cure. However, unlike previous years, when the stadium’s 15,000 seating capacity overflowed, with persons jostling for a space to stand even on the mounds of the grounds, this year’s turnout saw less than 6,000 persons in attendance.
As a result of the boycott call made by the Youth Coalition for Transformation (YCT), the youth arm of a partnership for National Unity against Kashif & Shanghai, President Donald Ramotar said he and his Cabinet would attend the game to show solidarity and give support.
As promised Ramotar and Cabinet members were present and the President was seen shaking hands and wishing the Guyana team success against Trinidadian competitors Caledonia AI.
Meanwhile, over at the Georgetown Football Club (GFC) ground Bourda, where the final of another tournament, organized by the GFA was playing at the same time, there was a sold-out crowd with over 10,000 in attendance. And persons had to be turned away because the GFC ground had reached its attendance capacity.
In an interview with Stabroek News, Kashif Muhammad and Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major of K&S opined that the boycott organised by the YCT did have a heavy impact on the tournament. As a result, they said, the GFA was in the right place at the right time and thus capitalized.
“The APNU boycott has hit the tournament hard and in return not just the Kashif & Shanghai Organization will suffer but it will have a domino effect where many will feel the squeeze,” Muhammad said. “There are a lot of persons who indirectly benefit from this tournament, from the K&S staff to the sellers at the event, persons who provide the t-shirts and memorabilia and most importantly young footballers across Guyana and among many, many others.”
Major went on to say that he felt the boycott was openly racially targeted and he was disheartened that there was no condemnation from the Guyanese public and other organisations since it was African Guyanese who make up the largest percentage of football players and fans and would stand to benefit from such a tournament.
“This boycott was one of the most stupid things I heard and was somewhat shocked when I first heard it,” Major said. “I honestly believed that we as Guyanese were maturing given the …election results and the non-violent protests… We don’t have to look far to see mature societies in the small islands and more so in international developed societies like United states people are proud to say who they support and you don’t hear of any boycott What is this? Is this where we are going?”
He added, “If politicians will decide on the divide and rule theory it will be so disappointing. We will not only look backward and racist in the eyes of our regional and international neighbours but also to our youth after they gain exposure and knowledge and have to educate us in our old age.”
Questioned about their public affiliation and support of the PPP/C, Major said, “The PPP/C is the ruling government of the day… We cannot go the APNU for support. It is the ruling government that makes decisions on the development of sports. If APNU was in power we would have to, by the same yardstick, engage them. Would they then see it as right if the shoe was on the other foot and PPP/C supporters say boycott?”
Against this backdrop, he added that when the PPP/C came to power in 1992, he and Muhammad had the brainchild of developing and sustaining football in Guyana because we are fanatics. “If you had seen the state of the Mackenzie Sports Club ground in linden where the inaugural game was played you would faint. There was no light, nothing was done to develop that ground; nothing.”
In addition, he said, subsequently the fencing of the ground was also done and it was he and Muhammad who personally went to GT&T to ask for assistance with infrastructural renovations of the property which was granted.
Responding to comments made by some that K&S is a selfish organisation that does nothing for Lindeners or the football fraternity, Major retorted, “I think it’s only greedy and envious haters who would say something like that. What research work have they done on this organisation? It is 22 years that we and our supporters put into this; especially the people of Linden for whom we are grateful. K&S football used to do so much for Linden and Lindeners every year but then the thing grew and could no longer be held there so we regrettably had to move to town to accommodate a larger crowd.”
He stated that according to his religious belief, when charitable acts are done they should be done unknowing to even one’s own family. As such when the K&S Organisation gives back it does not go seeking media attention, because good acts are rewarded accordingly.
When pressed for examples he produced a list of names of players who the organisation would have sent overseas for exposure and training of the game and are now playing football as a career in countries such as Trinidad and Tobago among others. He also cited the rehabilitation of football fields wherever a tournament game is held, the annual Mother’s Day dinner, an end-of-year party and treat for over 1,000 children, giving bicycles as rewards to prospective school age football players, and personal financing of underprivileged footballers across Guyana among others.
Muhammad said the organisation will seek to implement measures and exhaust avenues to repair the damage which saw a huge depletion in K&S football fans and to reconcile differences between the two football bodies. In the end, he said, “the good will overcome the evil. In this football saga we are the good the evil know themselves… It is the law of the universe and we live by it and will reap our just rewards because we only mean well for the development of football in Guyana.”
