Futsal returns on December 14

…No restrictions for Elite League players

By Jemima Holmes

The solitary thought of football returning for the year-end season is enough to send any fan bonkers; but adding the fast-paced, electric futsal discipline to the mix will surely brighten up the Christmas season for all.

On that note, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) is serving up the sport in all forms for the jolly season, with the help of the Kashif and Shanghai Organization.

Futsal action returns with a bang on December 14, following this revelation from the stakeholders during a briefing on Friday morning at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, which will also act as the venue for the four-week futsal event.

The tournament, according to initial reports, has 9 playing days, on December 14th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 23rd, 28th, 30th, and January 4th and 8th.

In fielding questions from sports journalists on Friday morning, GFF President Wayne Forde explained that this event is being highly anticipated by players and fans alike, but will not be possible without vaccination.

“Every single footballer wants to play football, and every single fan wants to see football being played. That’s just a given; we know that. The main hurdle is: those people with that strong desire and appetite for the game are required to do what is necessary for us to enjoy the game,” Forde said.

The GFF President added, “And that is why we are intensifying the vaccination drive. So, I think the message is clear, everyone wants football, we’ve always had a hectic season at the end of the year, and we’re hoping to do that clearly with some expansion.”

Continuing on the topic of vaccination for players, fans and officials, Forde divulged that while the GFF’s vaccination drives have been favourable thus far, vaccination is a necessity.

“We believe that the response so far has been very positive from the members. We have a vaccination drive that will take place over this coming weekend, and we want to also encourage our fans, based on the conditions of the approval that we are operating under, fans, officials and players will have to be vaccinated in order to participate in this exciting treat of football over this year-end period,” Forde said.

A similar event was hosted by the two entities back in 2018, and building on this, Frank ‘English’ Parris gave an overview of the current structure of the tournament.

“We presently have 32 teams that will be competing in the tournament. We’re finalising the names of the teams, as we speak. Tomorrow (Saturday 13th) we’ll have a briefing with the teams, and we’ll be able to notify the media soon after we have the briefing with the teams.”

Makeup of the 32 teams

“We have 16 teams from Georgetown, 4 from East Bank, 4 from East Coast, 4 from West Dem, and 4 from Linden,”

Parris detailed. He went on to explain that teams from other regions were not put into the tournament based on travel and accommodation concerns. However, a number of teams from those regions are expected to participate in the Super 16 tournament.

Responding to a question from Guyana Times Sport on the participation of ‘Elite League’ players, who only a few years ago were prohibited from playing in certain futsal tournaments, Forde clarified that it was not a matter of who was organising the futsal events, but that of scheduling and health concerns.

“Well, the limitation had nothing to do with whether we hosted the tournament or not, it all depends on the fixtures. The games were too close to each other, the playing days; so it wasn’t in the best interest of a player, health-wise, for them to be doing it. But this time, no one has been playing football,” Forde responded.

He added, “So, I think the fixtures have been planned well, and we’re a little bit more relaxed with those restrictions, because we want to see the players get back and play as many games as possible; so that’s the intention,”

The futsal event has 9 playing days, with the opener being on December 14 and the final on January 8, 2022. In addition to the regular tournament games, there will be an all-star game featuring teams from the GFF and K&S, led by Forde and Kashif Muhammad respectively.