The Guyana Football Federation [GFF] in partnership with the National Milling Company [NAMILCO], launched the second season of the Thunderbolt Flour Power National U17 Intra-Association tournament yesterday at the latter’s Agricola Head-Office.
The event which is billed to commence this month, coincides with the company’s 50th anniversary and will feature teams from all nine regional member associations. It is set to conclude in July.
The associations down to compete are Bartica, Berbice, East Bank Demerara, East Demerara, Essequibo/Pomeroon, Georgetown, Rupununi, Upper Demerara and West Demerara.
Speaking at the launch, Managing Director Bert Sukhai stated that the entity, which was founded in 1969, is committed to the development of the sport.
According to Sukhai, this is highlighted by the company’s five year multi-million dollar partnership with the GFF.
“NAMILCO is here long-term and when we make a commitment we keep it. I want to wish you guys (GFF) well in terms of your planning and ensuring it is executed properly, down to the lowest level. You have to be on top of things to keep it going. All your RMAs have to be fully alert to what their responsibilities are and what we expect of them,” he said. Competitions Director of the GFF, Ian Alves, spoke of the impact of the tournament especially on the performance of the national programmes.
“In one single tournament we’ve been able to influence Guyana’s performance at the youth level at international tournaments since the majority of our players came from playing within the National GFF-NAMILCO Thunderbolt Flour Power U-17 tournament.”
Technical Director of the GFF, Ian Greenwood, praised the significance of the tournament since its inception.
“This year we have the World Cup Qualifiers coming up in May, and because Guyana Under-17 is now ranked 18th in Concacaf, which is a massive jump up from what is was, we’ve been pushed into the final round, so in May we will play Haiti, Honduras and El Salvador,” he said. “Obviously, it’s a very tough group, but it shows the work we’ve been doing at the Under-17 level to ensure we’ve been ranked 18th,” he added.
He disclosed, “The (NAMILCO) tournament will give us an opportunity to scout more players from across Guyana and all the RMAs (Regional Member Associations) to show we have the very best players in the national team programme.”
GFF president Wayne Forde, congratulated the company on achieving their Golden Jubilee.
“I think it is fitting that football is taking centre stage on such an auspicious occasion for this company, and it speaks to company’s values as it relates to the reinvestment into our most important asset, and that is our human asset,” Forde said.
He added, “At the Guyana Football Federation, we understand very clearly that unless we invest consistently over time we would not be able to impact the development of football and the development of our players, to the extent that we wish to. The partnership with the National Milling Company is a recognition of that fact.”
NAMILCO Financial Controller Fitzroy McLeod, said, “We’re seeing a much broader base of talent being drawn upon in our national age group teams, in our camps. We’re seeing the impact of much higher activities in all of the RMAs and therefore the talent is coming through, the quality of the competition is of a much higher standard. We’re seeing much more diversity in our teams with all the regions being represented and we’re seeing a lot of competence in the hosting of these tournaments run by the GFF.”
