The 10th edition of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ Linden Championship, which is pencilled to commence tomorrow, was officially launched yesterday at the Golden Taste Fish Shop in Wismar.
The event, which will utilise an elimination format, will be contested over the course of five nights. The competing teams are: Swag Entertainment, Silver Bullets, YMCA, Team Fearless, Young Gunners, Spaniards, Excuse the Rush, Tidal Wave, BB Ballers, ABG, One Syde, Turf President, Hard Ball, Assassa Ballers, Universal Ballers, Double 6, Amorie High Rollers, Super Strikers, V-Side, Pro Ballers, DC Ballers, Top Strikers, Hi-Flyers, and Coomacka.
The winner of the event will receive $500,000 and the championship trophy. They will also earn an automatic berth to the national championship slated for August. On the other hand, the second, third, and fourth-place finishers will collect $400,000, $300,000, and $250,000, respectively, and the corresponding accolade.
The playing venues are: Wisroc/Amelia’s Ward Car Park, Silver City Hard-Court, Amelia’s Ward Hard-Court, and the Retrieve Hard-Court.
The other playing dates are May 17th, 18th, and 22nd, with the final pencilled for the 24th. The official fixtures will be announced shortly.
Kelon Josiah, co-coordinator of the tournament, said, “This year we expect a higher quality than the previous edition because we have emphasised and implored the teams to keep the ball and not kick it away.
We also mentioned the rules regarding penalties and asked them to remove the physical play so that they could show off their talents and bring the game back to its original version.”
According to Josiah, “We expect a more skillful game with less physicality, and the players agree that the standard needs to improve so that the fans will be excited and want to come and watch every night. The event is very big in the community, so much so that we have teams from almost every ward in Region #10, inclusive of Kwakwani and Bamia.”
“It is definitely going to be big this year, and we expect all the teams to come with their A game. The support is there already because everyone is asking and inquiring about the tournament. It is expected to be the biggest and best in the region”, he further said.
Also present at the launch were Banks DIH Supervisor Omarion Gordon and co-coordinator Rawle ‘Bony Man’ Gittens.
