Guinness “Greatest of the Streets”: Tournament’s return sees a surfeit haven of quality football

Following the successful return of the Guinness “Greatest of the Streets” National Championships last Friday at the Pouderoyen Tarmac after months of intense action, Coordinator Wayne Griffith has been ecstatic about the dedication of the participating teams and support received from the spectators.
Showstoppers have become the first team from the East Bank/West Demerara division to be crowned the Guinness “Greatest of the Streets” National Champions, having defeated Laing Avenue 3-0 in the final, played on Friday evening.
Speaking in an exclusive Interview with <<<Guyana Times Sport>>>, Sports Coordinator Griffith spoke about the level of fan support and the impact of the great quality of football played.
“You know, the fans show so much love, so much love, everywhere we go, bro. Everywhere we go, a lot of love towards the street football. You know, it’s a free event, so they came out in the numbers, support, have their few drinks and enjoy themselves. Incident free, you know, that’s the kind of fun it is like to have a free, nice, you know, incident-free fun.

“You have a good time and all finished, you go home safe back to your loved ones and everything. And the level is big, man. The level is high, lovely. They have players who would have played against us in the street football who would have gone on to represent Guyana in the senior Golden Jaguars national team. Yes, from the same street football. The talent is growing.
“A lot of, you know, players come out and start; every year we get young players come out and start taking part in it. And sometimes they would branch off and go onwards to, you know, a bigger field format where they would have gotten into a club and start playing for the club in a big field format. They would have been spotted by a scout or so and who then dropped them into the national programme. And that’s what’s going on. So yeah, the level is very, very high. So it’s a great quality of football,” Grifith said.
He went on to emphasise on the growth of the event from four teams to a countrywide phenomenon.
Griffith said, “It’s a great feeling… It’s a great feeling, brother. You know, we started 17 years ago in Tiger Bay with just four teams – Tiger Bay, Back Circles Spartans and Gold is Money. Those were the four teams we started with 17 years ago. Yes, 17 years ago, , in Tiger Bay. And we had the then Minister of Sport, Mr Frank Anthony, would have come and kicked off the tournament for us in Tiger Bay there. And it grew from then to now, bro. It’s a big success. You know, we have nationals. We just concluded nationals there. We have countrywide. When we play now, we have over 200 teams that take part countrywide now. So it’s really a big, big plus, you know, for the communities and for the sport of street football. So, yeah.”