Experienced referee consultant Wayne ‘Harry’ Griffith will attempt to bring cheer to the Soesdyke/Timehri football faithful over the course of the festive Christmas period with the inaugural ‘Million Dollar Baby’ Street-ball Championship, which was announced yesterday at the National Library, Church Road.
Dubbed ‘Soesdyke/Timehri versus the Rest’ by the coordinating team, a whopping 22 teams from the area will compete against four Georgetown teams, one team each from East Coast Demerara and West Demerara, two Linden teams, and two teams from the Agricola area. The event will be hosted at the Soesdyke Tarmac.
The teams will play for a winner’s purse of GYD $700,000, with the runners-up receiving $200,000, third place $150,000, and fourth place $50,000.
It will be a knockout tournament with games lasting 20 minutes (10 minutes and a half). The tournament will kick off on December 23 before continuing on Christmas Eve (24) and Christmas Day, with the final pencilled for Boxing Day (December 26).
According to Harry, he conceived the idea of hosting a street-ball tournament in the area since there is hardly ever any football being played in the area. Subsequently, he reached out to overseas-based friends and individuals, who immediately responded with financial sponsorship and a promise of making the tournament an annual feature.
