By Iva Wharton
The Georgetown leg of the Guinness in the Street football competition started on Saturday at the Albouystown Tarmac with Sport Minister Dr. Frank Anthony declaring the tournament open with the ceremonial kicking off of the football.
Minister Anthony in his address said that Banks DIH has been very supportive of sports with a number of initiatives including the Guinness in the Street tournament.
“So that’s why we in the ministry are very pleased to support the various initiatives that Banks would do in terms of sports. We want to see community sports develop and we know that street football is one of those community sports that can bring our communities out to enjoy a good game.”
Dr. Anthony said while it is a competition, it was good for the community “We have seen that in just a few short years ago this tournament was started here in Guyana and it was a unique tournament because at the time Guinness did not think that such a tournament would have evolved around the Caribbean and being something that was home grown has now taken hold around the Caribbean and just this year you would have seen the Caribbean coming to Guyana to play in the first ever Caribbean Street football tournament.”
Minister Anthony, who said that the above was something that Guyanese should be proud of, also told the gathering that as they compete he would he looking on for the best team to represent Guyana at the Caribbean Championship again given the number of teams in the different parts of the country that are now a part of the championship.
Guinness Brand Manager, Lee Baptiste said that the company has heeded the call for a national championship.
“As we know Guyana were runners up to St. Vincent. This year through your encouragement we will be adding two more legs to this tournament, we will be in Bartica and Berbice and then we will be having our national championship to choose the team to represent us at the Caribbean Championship.”
Baptise said it is important that teams maintain the highest level of discipline as they compete in the championship.
“I hope that as you play hard you will respect the referee’s decision which is always final”.
Wasting no time the competition started with defending champions Back Circle making their mark. Despite stiff competition from Cross Road, Back Circle was able to score goals off the boots of Andy Duke, Devon Harris and Dellon Frazer in the fourth, ninth and 18th minutes respectively. Cross Road was only able to score one goal because of the strong defence by the defending champions. The lone goal for Cross Road was scored by Desmond Cottam in the sixth minute.
In the second match of the night between Queen Street Tiger Bay and Berlin, Queen Street sent the Berlin wall crashing down with a five goal barrage.
Deon Alfred scored four of the five goals in the fifth, eighth, 17th and 19th minutes while Godfrey Downel scored in the 10th minute.
Globe Yard defeated Laing Avenue by a 2-1 in the third match. Both teams fought equally hard for the win but it was Globe Yard with goals from Lionel Grimes and Dwayne Anthony in the 15th and 19th minutes that came out on top. Laing Avenue’s lone goal was scored by Denzil Kistoo in the 25th minute.
Game four saw Leopold Street securing a 3-2 victory over Island All Starr 2. Omallo Williams and O’Kenny Fraser scored for Leopold Street in the second, 10th and 15th minutes respectively. Fraser scored the final two goals. Devon Hayman and Jermain Herson scored for Island All Starr in the fifth and 14th minutes respectively.
Game five saw the first drawn encounter of the night between Albouystown B and Hope Street Tiger Bay 1. That match ended in a 1-1 draw.
Barunch Anthony in the 17th minute scored for Albouystown B, while Solomon Austin scored in the ninth minute for Hope Street, Tiger Bay.
West Front Road defeated Bent Street 2-0 with Michael Pedro in the third minute and Randolph Wagner in the 17th minute scoring for West Front Road.
East Front Road defeated Broad Street 2-0 with Vashile Cantlazar and Dillon Kelly netting for East Front Road in the 14th and 15th minutes respectively.
The final match of the night between Princess Street and Albouystown A ended in a one all draw. The scorers were Leon Grumble in the first minute for Princess Street and Devon Dooker in the 10th minute for Albouystown.
The competition continues today at the Culture Centre Tarmac with another eight matches. Durban Street will play Sophia B; West Back Road will tackle South Ruimveldt; Festival City will engage California Square; Stevedore Housing Scheme comes up against Norton Street West; East La Penitence will face Kingstown; Alexander Village will oppose Norton Street East; Broad Street B will clash with Sophia A and Lodge Housing Scheme will tackle North-La Penitence. Kickoff is 18 hours.
