-fielded ineligible player
By Michaelangelo Jacobus
In a twist ahead of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ West/East Bank Demerara Championship final, set for Friday, Jetty Gunners have been disqualified from the championship match after an investigation found that they fielded an ineligible player during their semifinal against Showstoppers.
The Jetty Gunners got past Showstoppers via penalties on Friday night, and after the match, an official verbal and then written protest was filed by Showstoppers to tournament officials.
Following the complaint, the officials then launched a thorough investigation.
It was then found that Jetty Gunners had fielded an ineligible player in the form of Andrew Murray Jr. The Gunners, despite being warned of the individual’s ineligibility by the coordinators prior to the commencement of the fixture, still allowed the player to be uniformed on the team bench.
According to the official tournament rules, “the fielding of an ineligible player, inclusive, on the team bench will lead to automatic disqualification of the guilty team despite the result by the officials.”
Commenting on this development, Tournament coordinator Travis Bess noted: “This year’s Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets West/East Bank edition finals will be contested between the defending champion Ballerz Empire and Showstoppers. The reason for this is because Showstoppers protested against Jetty Gunners.
The grounds for the protest were based on Jetty Gunners having a player outfitted in uniform and on the bench during their semifinal match. The tournament rules state to any team that the fielding of any ineligible player, inclusive, on the team bench, will lead to automatic qualification of the guilty team despite the result by the officials.”
He added “Moreover, before the second semi-finals match, both coordinators went onto the playing area and spoke to both the captain and managers of Showstoppers and Jetty Gunners, making it clear that Mr. Andrew Murray couldn’t take part in the match”.
Due to the ineligibility of Murray, Showstoppers have now advanced to the final against defending champion Ballerz Empire, which is slated for Friday night (July 26) at the Pouderoyen Tarmac.
Meanwhile, Cayenne Massive and the winner of Pouderoyen Brothers versus Epic Touch Family fixture will play in the third-place playoff.
