The Mackeson ‘Keep Your Five Alive’ Street Football Knockout tournament was officially launched at simple media briefing yesterday at the Ansa McAl headquarters, Beterverwagting (BV) East Coast Demerara under the premise of ‘Your skill, your style, your five, your stout’.
Aiming to unearth hidden talent within the various competing communities, the competition, which is in its third year, will comprise 48 teams from various locales inclusive of Georgetown, East Coast and East Bank.
The tournament which will run from May 1 to May 25 and will be contested at different venues such as the National Cultural Centre tarmac, Sophia C Field Market Square and California Square and East Ruimveldt over the course of eight fixture dates.
Tournament coordinator Kevin Adonis informed the media that the event’s concept was designed to test the skill and fitness levels of players. He said that the triumphant team will receive $300,000 and a trophy while the second place side will take home $150,000 and a trophy.
“This is about keeping your five alive throughout the competition, meaning that the team, which stays on its feet the longest, will ultimately, win. It encourages each community to select the best five players to have a serious chance of winning,” Adonis said.
Adonis added that each team should submit a registration list of eight players so that replacements can be drawn from them if warranted.
The coordinator said that each game will be 15 minutes in duration with seven and a half minutes per half and that there will be no extra time in the earlier knockout rounds. If a game is drawn after the end of regulation time, a penalty shootout will decide which team progresses to the next round.
However, a combined nine minutes of extra time will be allowed in the final of the tournament. Six minutes will be played to see if the teams can be separated. If no winner can be achieved in the first six minutes, three more minutes will be played followed by a resulting penalty shootout if no winner can be found.
Jamaal Douglas, Mackeson Brand Coordinator, said that he is elated to have the brand associated with community based sporting initiatives and believes that projects like this can be used to unearth hidden talents yet to be discovered within the sport.
“We decided to pick up this tournament so we could embrace communities through football. It is a way of us being there from the beginning of the creation of maybe the next big football star and we want to be there,” Douglas said, adding it shows corporate responsibility.
Ansa McAl Public Relations Officer (PRO) Darshnie Yussuf encouraged the players to put out their best performance while stating that the competition is structured to be a challenge and as such only the best team will advance and become the champion.
