Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ National Championship
Travis Bess, coordinator of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Streets’ National Championship, which is pencilled to commence tomorrow at the Pouderoyen Tarmac in West Demerara, confirmed that all structures are in place for the one night event.
This was disclosed by an official release from the coordinating committee. According to the correspondence, Bess stated, “Preparation heading into tomorrow’s National Championship is moving along nicely with the exception of the utility posts that are lying north to south on the tarmac.
Other than that, all other systems are in place for an exciting evening.”
He stated, “Well, my expectations for the national championship are to witness an injury-free tournament both on and off the field, in addition to that to watch some of the best football. I expect a large turnout since this is the first year the National Championship will be played in its entirety on the Westside on the Pouderoyen tarmac.”
According to Bess, the tournament has no clear favourite due to the absence of several heavyweights from the Georgetown zone, such as Sparta Boss and Gold is Money, noting, “There are several teams to watch in this year’s tournament, for example, North Ruimveldt, the Georgetown runner-up, who played a whole tournament and didn’t concede a single goal with their airtight defence. That can cause trouble for teams. Westside champion Ballerz Empire with their powerhouse offence can also cause issues for other teams; Laing Avenue can create big problems for teams with their attack as well; Linden Champions Silver Bullets, who have a balanced team, can also cause problems for the rest of the teams in the tournament, just to mention a few”, Bess further said.
The nine competing teams are Georgetown champion Laing Avenue and second place finisher North Ruimveldt, West Demerara champ Ballerz Empire and second place finisher Showstoppers, Essequibo winner All-Stars, Berbice champion East Bank Gunners, Linden winner Silver Bullets, East Coast Demerara victor Hustlers, and Bartica titleholder Mighty Ruler.
East Bank Gunners will tackle Silver Bullets in the first quarterfinal at 19:00hrs, while the Ballerz Empire will engage North Ruimveldt in the second fixture at 19:30hrs. In the third contest, Mighty Ruler takes aim at Showstoppers at 20:00hrs, with Laing Avenue facing off against the winner of the playoff fixture between the All-Stars and Hustlers.
The winners will advance to the semifinal round. The winner of the event will pocket $1,000,000 and the championship trophy, while the second, third, and fourth-placed teams will receive $500,000, $350,000, and $200,000 apiece and a trophy.
Compete Fixtures – September 6th
Playoff
18:30hrs: Hustlers (East Coast) vs. All-Stars (Essequibo)
Quarterfinals Fixtures
(1) 19:00hrs: East Bank Gunners (Berbice) vs. Silver Bullets (Linden)
(2) 19:30hrs: Ballers Empire (East Bank Demerara vs. North Ruimveldt (Georgetown)
(3) 20:00hrs: Might Ruler (Bartica) vs. Showstoppers (West Demerara)
(4) 20:30hrs: Laing Avenue (Georgetown) vs. Playoff Winner
Semifinal Fixtures
(5) 21:00hrs: Winner of 1 vs. Winner of 3
(6) 21:30hrs: Winner of 2 vs. Winner of 4
Third place playoff
(7) 22:00hrs: Loser of 5 v Loser of 6
Final
(8) 22:30hrs: Winner of 5 v Winner of 6
