President of the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA), Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon says that the people of Linden will have football on January 1, contrary to what the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and its General Council has instructed.
Under the newly launched Banks GT Beer, 14 clubs from Linden are doing battle to see who will walk away with the tournament’s $1M first prize. It was the hope of the UDFA to conclude the tournament on January 1 (New Year’s Day) but the GFF raised the Red Card on the affiliate by declaring that only one tournament finals will take place on January 1 and it will be the Georgetown Football Association tournament.
The Federation’s General Council met recently and voted to not have another finals on January 1, stating that there are already two tournaments, the GFA Banks Beer Cup and the Chico Kashif and Shanghai U-18 championship.
“We have exhausted all options and still continue to come up with solutions to this because the people of Linden want to have football January 1. The thing is, we have to subject to the decision of the General Council but we really feel as though they are not making any sense” Solomon said.
The UDFA President and his executives have been frequenting the city trying to convince the GFF that “for Linden this is more than just a tournament, it’s an event and its them getting something that they feel was taken away from them and now this is their opportunity to get it back”
Solomon added that “sadly we have tried to tell them (GFF) that but they are holding on to the fact that they is already the GFA tournament and now the K&S tournament and it would be unfair to football fans”.
According to the GFF, the head the UDFA was given the proposed dates for the staging of its year end tournament and January 1 was not given as one of those, but rather the GFA was permitted to play its final on that date.
In an article published in Kaieteur News, GFF President said “in the interest of the sponsor (Banks DIH) which has undertaken to sponsor both tournaments, stakeholders and the fans, it would not have been prudent to host both finals on the same day since it would naturally rob the fans and other related interest groups of the opportunity to see both finals if they desire to and this obviously would not have been an ideal scenario”.
However, Banks DIH had already signed a contract with the UDFA stating that they are prepared to host the finals on January 1, but also said that they will have to be guided by the rules and regulations of the GFF.
“I don’t know what will happen but one thing I know for sure is that the people of Linden will have football on January 1” Solomon reiterated.
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