Up from nine last year, twelve Westside teams will vie for half a million dollars and the winner’s trophy when the 2nd annual Stag/West Demerara Football Senior League Tournament kicks off tomorrow at the Den Amstel ground.
This was disclosed during the league’s official launch yesterday at the ANSA McAL head office in Beterverwagting.
“We have restarted our sponsorship of the West Demerara Senior League “said ANSA McAL’s PRO, Darshanie Yussuf. “We were noticing a lagging in football development on the west side and we dived into it last year and it had such a great turnout and level of competition from these guys and we said we will continue, hence here we are today”.
“Twelve teams are on board and that makes us happy to know that a tournament that started last year has shown progress and is making an impact and we want to continue along that path”, Yussuf said. She added “With our company’s sponsorship we do hope it can help to develop the careers of players in football”.
Following the successful staging of the inaugural tournament, ANSA McAL has doubled the prize money to show its continued commitment for the development of the sport.
Said Vice President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Rawlston Adams “I just want to say that the GFF is very supportive of any organization especially ANSA McAL in showing their commitment and dedication to football and in Guyana as a whole, this is the second year of sponsorship and I was made to understand that the sponsorship was increased, that in itself speaks that ANSA McAL is committed to football development”.
Adams continued “On behalf of the GFF I would like to express our sincere gratitude to ANSA McAL for the second year of sponsorship for the West Demerara Senior League Tournament”.
Meanwhile, Brand Representative of Stag, John Maikoo stated that the tournament will last about 12 weeks and will cost in total about $1.2M. Maikoo also stated that ANSA McAL is happy to be a part of the development of the discipline of football and sport as a whole.
Vice President of the West Demerara Football Association (WDFA), Christine Schmidt lauded the company for sponsoring the league and revealed that along with defending champions, Den Amstel, Slingerz FC, Seawall FC, Uitvlugt FC, Stewartville FC, FC Eagles, Pouderoyen FC, Wales United, Bagotville FC, Beavers FC, Jetty FC and De Kinderen will compete for top honours.
Tomorrow there will be a march past of the teams at 14:00hrs followed by an exhibition game which will see the best ballers from the West Bank tackling West Coast’s top ball weavers.
The $200 admission will go towards the WDFA.
