In recent years, the Kashif and Shanghai Organization and its two principal Directors, Mohammad and his partner Aubrey “Shanghai” Major have marketed themselves beyond their tournament, serving as promoters of successful entertainment shows involving both local and foreign artistes. It is football, however, that has made them. Since the first event involving two Linden teams in 1990, they have caught the attention of fans across the country and, perhaps somewhat uniquely, secured the sustained support of both the private sector and the government.
In the process, however, they have had to walk a minefield. Some of those twenty years were filled with national economic hardship, violent crime and political tension and there were years when you had to marvel at their sheer persistence. Equally significantly, they have had to avoid being caught between the powerful jaws of a government that clearly has no appetite for the Guyana Football Federation and its President Colin Klass, and a Federation whose autonomy under FIFA rules immunizes it from state sanction.
A few Fridays ago the government and the GFF clashed spectacularly in an open war of words between Klass and Sports Minister Frank Anthony. The exchange may well have occurred over the heads of most of the audience but the fact that it occurred at the launch of the 20th Anniversary of the tournament would not have been lost to the organizers.
Last year the organizers ran afoul of many of their long-time supporters at Linden following their decision to shift the New Year’s Day finals to the National Stadium at Providence. Accusations of desertion, however, were perhaps not fairly balanced against and understandable desire to take the event to a higher level.
This year, the tournament’s principal challenge may well be the scourge of violence that has crept in to local football, spawned it seems by huge bets and the failure of the organizers of tournaments to keep men with guns and knives out. This year the Kashif and Shanghai Tournament has had to issue specific notification of its zero tolerance policy on violence even as the GFF threatens to ban Riddim Squad, one the teams in the anniversary tournament, from participating in local football because the club’s former boss, who was badly injured during a brawl at a football match several weeks ago, has made it known that he intends to take legal action against the Federation for failing to have security at the game. It is an unwise move by the Federation which has been accused by the government, fans and players alike of management by bullyism. Oddly enough, Aubrey Major, the other half of Kashif and Shanghai is the Federation’s Organizing Secretary.
President Bharrat Jagdeo is himself enthusiastic about the tournament and his enthusiasm has caused the state to shell out perhaps in excess of one million dollars in prize monies and other forms of support each year. No other sports event benefits from the President’s nor the state’s generosity to that extent. Kashif and Shanghai have also invited teams from Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and the United States to participate in the tournament and a few years ago even succeeded in enticing FIFA Vice President, the controversial Trinidadian Jack Warner, to be guest of honour at the tournament. Shanghai, particularly, likes to talk about the role that the organization has played in facilitating attachments for local players to semi-professional football teams in Trinidad.
The boast that the Annual Kashif and Shanghai Tournament has raised the standard of local football is probably a somewhat dubious one. We remain way behind much of the rest of the region with our low ranking having long been put into perspective by the appearance of first, Jamaica then Trinidad and Tobago, in successive World Cup finals. Nor has victory in the recent Suriname President’s Cup meant a great deal for the stature of the so-called Golden Jaguars. They still remain somewhere close to the bottom of the pile.
Unquestionably the greatest asset of the Kasshif and Shanghai Organization is their impressive capacity for putting things together, for planning and executing an annual football tournament that draws crowds and generates a level of national excitement. One of the reasons for their success is their understanding of the role of the media and marketing, considerations which most of the other organizers in the sport are yet to learn. Kashif and Shanghai have been wise enough to attach a high level of importance to maintaining their relationships with their sponsors which, for the most part, includes avoiding some of the scandalous occurrences that have ensured between football tournaments and sponsors.
This year Kashif and Shanghai have made it known that they intend to have the Brazilian football legend Pele come to Guyana for the opening ceremony of the 20th anniversary. Not a few people believe that this is beyond even the two men who have succeeded in making so much else possible. Their view is that we will just have to wait and see. If, however, they do succeed in bringing King Pele to Guyana, the Kashif and Shanghai Organization would have richly deserved the accolade as the most successful sports event promotion organization in the history of Guyana.
