Georgetown’s Guinness Greatest of the Street commences tonight

– teams advised to be punctual

The final leg of the Georgetown Sub Meet of the Guinness ‘Greatest of the Street’ futsal tournament will commence today at the National Cultural Centre Tarmac at 19:00 hrs. All teams are advised to be at the venue on time, and to adhere to the rules of the tournament.

Troy Peters, Communications Manager of Banks DIH, has said he is extremely proud that the tournament has reached its 10th year.
He also noted that this tournament has touched almost every part of the nation, and is expected to bring the heat at its various venues across Georgetown.
In an invited comment, Referee Coordinator Wayne Griffith said, “So far, we have done five tournaments for the year; and, thus far, we have not issued a single red card to any of the players in the other five sub meets.
“We have a few notable teams in the competition, such as LA Ballers, who is a very young squad; John Street, which is a very excellent squad that consists of Brazilians; Sophia United, which has two Nigerians; and many other teams consisting of other nationalities.
“I want to say to the teams that these games are scheduled to commence at 19:00hrs, and will be starting on time. I am asking the teams, coaches and management to please be at the venue 15 minutes before the start of the game. I’m asking the Georgetown players to come out, play hard, and reach for greatness!”
The games are of 20 minutes’ duration, divided into halves of 10 minutes. Each team is entitled to make two fouls; if a third is made, it will result in a penalty. If the ball goes out of play, it is required to be brought back into play within 4 seconds.
If a player deliberately kicks away the ball, that player will have to sit out the game for three minutes. Also, if a penalty occurs during the game, it will be taken from the halfway mark of the court.
The resulting 16 teams will advance to the group stage, which will be held over the period of three days. The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-final round, and subsequently to the semi-final round, which is pencilled for the penultimate match-day date.
The eight teams which fail to progress to the knockout round will contest the Guinness Plate Championships.
With prize money topping the million-dollar mark, fans can expect to see teams battling hard for survival during the opening two nights of play, wherein the knockout phase obtains.
Losers over the two nights will have to wait until next year to have a crack at the whopping first prize of $500,000, which has accompanying bragging rights and an automatic berth in the national playoffs, slated to start one week after this zone’s completion.
The second place team will receive $300,000 and a trophy, while third- and fourth-placed finishers will take home $200,000 and $100,000 respectively.
Also up for grabs again will be $100,000 for winner of the Plate section, which will be competed for by the losing quarter-finalists.
Presently, the 16 automatic qualifiers are: defending champions Gold is Money, GTI Ballers, Queen Street Tiger Bay, Upsetters, Rising Stars, North Ruimveldt, Future Stars, Kingston, California Square, Trap Squad, Leopold Street, Ol-Skool Ballers, Bent Street, North East La Penitence, Sparta Boss, and Norton Street.
To date, Beacons [Bartica Champions], ‘Melanie B’ [East Coast Demerara winners], Brothers United [West Bank Demerara/East Bank Demerara winners], Trafalgar [Berbice champions] and High Rollers [Linden champions] are the teams to have secured automatic berths to the national championships.
The other dates on which matches would be played are July 13th, 19th, 20th, 26th and 27th, with the grand final scheduled for August 3rd. During the first two nights of the event, when 32 teams are featured, an elimination format will be utilised.

The fixtures for the two nights are listed below:
National Cultural Centre Tarmac- July 12
Trap Squad versus LA Ballers
Upsetters vs. ‘Albouystown A’
North Ruimveldt vs. John Street
California Square vs. Alexander Village
North East La Penitence vs. Stabroek Ballers
Norton Street vs. Back Circle
Sparta Boss vs. Judgement Yard
Gold is Money vs. Globe Yard

Burnham Court- July 13
Rising Stars vs. Good over Evil
Ol-Skool Ballers vs. Sophia
‘Albouystown B’ vs. Berlin
Kingston vs. Broad Street
Bent Street vs. Charlotte Street
Future Stars vs. Sophia United
Leopold Street vs. Pike Street
Queen Street (Tiger Bay) vs. Smyth Street