Hamilton Green 9-a-side Inter Ward Cup kicks off Sunday

The Hamilton Green Cup Inter Ward/Village 9-a-side Knockout Football Tournament resumes this Sunday, April 14, and will conclude on April 28, with the semi-finals and final at the Den Amstel ground, West Coast Demerara – the venue for all the matches.
Action starts at 15:00h and Coordinator Lennox Arthur, a former national football player and coach, is asking all teams to be at the venue by 14:00h to ensure that there is a prompt start to the day’s proceedings.
The opening salvo of round of 16 action will see Timehri v Bourda Blues, Soesdyke v Sophia, Mahaica v Liliendaal, Charlestown v Mocha, Goed Fortuin v Bagotsville, Pouderoyen v Sara Lodge, Uitvlugt v Zeelugt and Den Amstel Back Street v De Kindren.
The teams will be battling for a chance to claim the John Fernandes $300,000 first prize and Prime Minister trophy along with hampers from Ricks and Sari. The second placed team will take away the Courtney Benn sponsored $100,000, while the third place finisher will take home $60,000 put up by Techno mills. The fourth place finisher will take $40,000, donated by Ready Mix, along with the respective trophies. All the trophies have been sponsored by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.

Also at stake are the individual rewards for the Most Goals/Most Valuable Player and the winner will take home a dinette chair from China Trading and a Lazy Boy chair from AH&L Kissoon, along with the Best Goalkeeper who will claim the Minister of Natural Resources trophy.
Among the sponsors so far are Techno Mills, Ready Mix, Sattaur Gafoor, EC Vieira, BEV Enterprises, BK International, IPA, New Thriving, Ricks and Sari, E-Networks, Star Computers, NAMILCO, Cummings Electrical, the National Sports Commission, Star Entertainment, Alfro Alphonso, the Guyana Police Force, the Ministry of State, the Prime Minister and the Legal Affairs Ministry.
Arthur has expressed gratitude to these businesses and entities and also thanked those who have promised and are expected to come forward officially in the coming week. He has been staging tournaments in recognition of former Mayor of Georgetown and Prime Minister of Guyana, Hamilton Green, for a number of years now.
The defending champion of this tournament is Charlestown who beat Uitvlugt to claim the $400,000 prize and the Ministry of Citizenship Trophy last time around. Uitvlugt took the John Fernandes Trophy and $200,000 for their efforts back then.
With the involvement of the leading players emerging from the various areas and villages/wards, the event is playing its part in aiding social cohesion among the citizenry. Among some of the players on show are Deon Alfred, Trayon Bobb, Tyrone Khan, Jamal Harvey, Sheldon Toney, Ruel Charter, Leroy Halley and Kenroy D’Aguiar.
Soesdyke’s Tyrone Khan leads the goal scoring column with 2 goals, while Alfred, Bobb and Harvey, both have 1 apiece.
Teams are reminded to be at the venue for 14:00h next Sunday. Four substitutions are permitted in this format which will see the games being run for 30 minutes broken into two halves of 15 minutes. The tournament will be played in the knockout format, with winners advancing to the next round. Sudden death penalties will be used to separate the sides in the event of a draw at the end of full time.
The no offside rule is also in effect. All other rules will come under the dictates of FIFA.