—$4m first prize, car for MVP
By Iva Wharton
The organisers of the annual Kashif and Shanghai football tournament are hoping to regain lost ground when the 23rd annual tournament commences in December.
Kashif Muhammad, one of the organisers said yesterday that 16 local teams will compete in this year’s tournament.
“This year, the event will seek to connect more with its traditional supporters through the staging of more matches at various community grounds, Uitvlugt, Beterverwagting and Buxton,” said Muhammad.
“We are pleased to have the tournament return to Buxton following a period of absence,” he added.
Asked how he intends to attract his traditional supporters back to the sport, Mohamed said last year there was some amount of political tension which is not around this year.
“Last year we had a whole political scenario which is not around now. You are not seeing anything that says `boycott Kashif and Shanghai football.’”
He went on:”So we think that our football is going to get out there. We think that people understand that Kashif and Shanghai football tournament is 23-three-years old. We ain’t just playing; we try to manage monies properly to make sure that our tournament lasts as long as it has.”
Without the accompanying chest beating, Muhammad reminded that it was his organization that brought football great King Pele of Brazil, a move which he declared was not done for profit but to give back to its supporters.
Last year, the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation suffered when the Youth Coalition for Transformation (YCT) called for a boycott of the competition. To compound the situation images of Muhammad were circulated on the social media apparently showing which party he had voted for in the General Elections.
In appealing to supporters, Muhammad said the fans should be aware of the historic contribution that the event has made to the growth and development of the game in Guyana.
“By the same token, our supporters and the football community as a whole will be aware of the destabilizing challenges that confront local football at this time. Indeed, our own tournament has not remained unaffected by those events. What is clear is that the conflict and division which now afflict Guyana’s football firmly is blighting the tame and disfiguring the prospects of our clubs and our players.”
He said despite not having more of the Georgetown teams, his organization has attracted teams of a high quality adding that he regretted the impasse as it had divided football down the middle.
“We have some quality teams out there that we would like to be a part of our tournament but the rules are the rules and we have to go with the rules because we have to ask the Guyana Football Federation for permission. We have been working with them for 23 years and because of that collaboration our tournament has grown into what it is.”
Muhammad said there will no overseas team participating in this year’s competition given the paucity of football played this year.
“Being realistic enough football was not played locally this year and we think it would hurt the level of football. The only outstanding thing for us this year is the Golden Jaguars but on a local level especially Georgetown, quite a lot of football was not played and when we are inviting foreign teams they are usually top quality teams and with the inclusion of guest players, our local teams are not on par with the foreign teams.”
According to Muhammad, they do not want to risk a foreign team going away with the first place prize as happened last year.
Acting President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Franklyn Wilson, in his address said:”We are definitely in unprecedented times and unprecedented measures will be needed to bring things back on course.”
Wilson was talking about the current impasse between the GFF and the Georgetown Football Association (GFA).
Wilson said despite the challenges, the organisers of the tournament should be commended for their zest.
According to Wilson he does not know what will happen by January 2013 but said as an optimist, he hopes that the tournament will be a success despite the challenges.
Efforts he said are being made to bring the impasse to an end as it is hurting the sport.
“While the older heads would have been the architects of such a situation the youngsters are the ones hurting so we need to bring an end to it so the young players will not suffer going down the road,” said Wilson.
Nigel Worrell, Marketing Executive of Ansa McAl, which again is the major sponsor of the tournament, said the company’s involvement in the tournament this year was testimony to not only the development of sports, but the Guyanese people.
“The synergy over the years, as a matter of fact last year, was one that we would have called one of the greatest initiatives for football locally in the Stag Crown your community promotion.”
According to Worrell competition gave communities a chance to benefit, with the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground, Linden winning the first competition. In another two weeks works to the field should be completed.
In mentioning the impasse, Worrell said his company was not interested in the impasse but the development of the sport.
“And whatever we can do to make it work, we are going to sit down with whoever we can sit down with, to push football forward, to push the game forward and of course ultimately to push our country forward as it relates to the Golden Jaguars.”
Alexis Crawford, DDL’s Marketing Executive, said it has been three years since the company has been sponsoring the local football tournament adding that she hopes that this year will be better than last year.
“We believe that the Kashif and Shanghai Football tournament has given our local footballers an opportunity to compete in organised tournaments with some of them going on to the national football team, Golden Jaguars. Last year was not such a good year but that has not fazed us but we will continue to support this organization because we want to continue to build sports in Guyana.”
Other sponsors of the tournament include the Government of Guyana, Mohamed’s Enterprise, Auto Fashions, Hits and Jams TV and Princess Hotel.
Muhammad said the organization was still in talks with other potential sponsors namely the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T).
This year the winning team will receive $4 million with one million dollars going to the runners up.
The third and fourth places teams will receive $750,000 and $500,000 respectively.
Also a motor car will be awarded to the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and a motor cycle to the best coach.
The tournament starts on December 16 and concludes on January 1 with the final at the Providence National Stadium.
