‘Who will be first to get the boot?’
By Rawle Toney
With the release of the fixtures for this year’s Kashif and Shanghai football tournament, the one question on the minds of football fans is probably …”Who will be the first team to get marching orders from the tournament?”
All eyes will be on defending champions Alpha United of Georgetown and the tournament’s most decorated team, Bakewell Top XX of Linden.
The Linden team has won the event an unprecedented five times and played in eight finals.
Alpha United will open their title defence on December 21 at the Buxton Community Centre ground against Cougars of New Amsterdam.
While much is not known of the team from the Ancient County, Alpha United, considered the premier team in the Georgetown League, should have things relatively easy.
Alpha won the Georgetown League three consecutive times (twice since the tournament became the GT&T Premier League), and this will also be the third occasion that the “Hammer” will be playing in the tournament.
In 2005 they made it to the final against Topp XX but were unable to walk away with the trophy.
In 2006 they were knocked out in the semi–finals by Joe Public who went on to defeat Bakewell Topp XX in the final and in 2007 they exacted revenge to claim the title.
In this year’s tournament, the city teams will have a clear advantage over the other teams from around the country, moreso their rivals from Linden as a lot of football has been played in the capital as compared to the other areas.
Another city team that has a claim on the lien trophy is Sunburst Camptown who has been in superb form this year.
They will face Eagles United of Linden, the 1991 winners, on December 19 at the Tucville ground.
Fruta Conquerors, winners in 2002, and runners-up in 2004, will be looking to claim a second title. They face Lethem All Stars on December 17 at the Plasiance ground in their opening match.
Milerock of Linden was the first winner of the tournament in 1990 and they won it again in 1997.
They will face Pele whom they had beaten in that final 11 years ago.
Pele has never won the tournament and has only played in two finals and their clash with Milerock will take place in Linden on December 14.
Meanwhile, unlike previous years, this year teams will only be allowed to have four loaned players and no “guest players,” in accordance with the rules of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and FIFA, the organizers said on Friday at the media briefing.
Previously teams would normally invite players from other clubs, local and overseas, as guest players.
This resulted in semi-professional players abroad, returning to play for their team not as guest players but as official members.
However, the GFF rules state that four players will be allowed as loaned players and if any others are desirous of playing they will have to take an official transfer.
One club to feel the blunt of this ruling is Bakewell Topp XX with at least seven of their players playing in Trinidad.
The full fixture reads:
December 14: Mile Rock vs. Pele
(MSC ground – Linden)
: Bakewell Topp XX vs. Rusal
December 17: Camptown vs. Eagles
(Plaisance Community Center)
: Lethem vs. Conquerors
December 19: Western Tigers vs. Blue Berry Hill
Untied (Tucville ground)
: Camptown vs. Eagles United
December 21: GDF vs. Bakewell Buxton Stars
(Buxton Community Center)
: Alpha United vs. Cougars
December 25: Quarter-Finals (National Stadium)
December 26: Quarter-Finals (MSC ground – Linden)
December 28: Semi-Finals (MSC ground – Linden)
January 1: Finals (National Stadium)
