East Coast Demerara Football Association (ECDFA) has confirmed their participation in the upcoming Guyana Football Federation (GFF)/Kashif and Shanghai (K&S) Organization Super 16 year-end championship.
This was confirmed by General Secretary of the association Gidel Austin during a brief interview yesterday with Stabroek Sport. According to Austin, the deadline for the confirmation of participation in the event was Monday and the deadline for the submission of the team roster is penciled for Friday.
He explained, “Yesterday (Monday) was the deadline set by the GFF to see if the associations will participate. We confirmed our participation and Friday is the deadline for the submission of the team list. That has to come with the necessary vaccination documents, the book and ID card. East Coast Demerara is participating as an association; we have sent our confirmation of participation.”
He added, “We are in the process of selecting the team, we anticipate that it will conclude by Thursday (tomorrow). Trials are going on presently; it started last week Tuesday at the Melanie ground. We are in it to win it.”
Initially the competition was scheduled to feature clubs from the associations, alongside the Elite League members. However, the tournament will now comprise nine of the 10 Elite League teams, alongside the nine regional member associations following a request from the federation.
An official correspondence by the GFF General Secretary Ian Alves on November 9th to the respective member associations’ presidents and secretaries states, “As you might be aware, our plans for the GFF-Kashif & Shanghai Super 16 year-end tournament are progressing steadily. Initially, it was intended for the Regional Associations (RAs) to conduct their play-off tournaments in an effort to arrive at their entrants for the year-end tournament. However, it is recognized that it would be extremely difficult for some RAs, because of their number of member clubs and the level of inactivity imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic situation, to be able to conduct such play-offs in reasonable time to arrive at their top clubs. It is therefore being currently contemplated, to have the RAs field Regional Associations ‘All Stars’ Teams in the tournament. These teams, together with the Elite League clubs, will comprise the participating teams of the tournament once this decision is formalized.”
The participating Elite League clubs are Fruta Conquerors, Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Western Tigers, Ann’s Grove, Buxton United, Milerock, Santos, Den Amstel and the Guyana Police Force (GPF). East Coast Demerara unit Victoria Kings opted not to participate.
Participation from the other Regional Member Associations will come from Rupununi, Georgetown, East Bank, West Demerara, Essequibo/Pomeroon, Bartica, Berbice and Upper Demerara.
This translates to more than 16 participating teams. As such, a playoff section, which was confirmed by chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC) and Co-Director of K&S Organization, Kashif Muhammad, will be conducted to whittle down the participants to the requisite amount.
The nine playing dates of the event are December 12th (GFC), December 13th, Friday 17th (Buxton Ground), Sunday 19th (National Track and Field Centre, Leonora), Wednesday 22nd (MSC ground, Linden), Saturday 25th (Buxton Ground), Sunday 26th (MSC ground, Linden), Wednesday 29th (GFC), and Saturday January 1st (National Track and Field Centre, Leonora). The prize money for the respective top four finishers in the tournament is yet to be announced.
