Major excitement billed for West Demerara Guinness football

Guinness ‘Greatness of the Streets’ Football returns for the West and East Bank Demerara teams and according to organisers great excitement is expected at the Pouderoyen Tarmac.

At the official launching on Wednesday morning at Banks DIH, Thirst Park, Guinness Brand Manager Lee Baptiste posited that the tournament will be of great value while bringing wholesome excitement for fans. Baptiste also highlighted another important facet of the championships as they always seek to give back to the communities.
Tournament Coordinator, Travis Bess explained that there will be 32 teams, seven of which are new entrants who are all seeking to dethrone two-time champions Showstoppers.
Guinness Referee Coordinator Wayne ‘Harry’ Griffith explained the rules and the Guinness goal concept. Each game will be played for 20 minutes, 10 minutes a half where teams have a limit of two fouls per half, anything from there on will be a penalty. The Guinness goal will be awarded to any side that scores in the final three minutes of the match, that goal will be counted as two.
The tournament which is in collaboration with Colours Boutique will see the winning team take home $400,000 and the championship trophy, while the runner-up will receive $200,000 and the corresponding accolade. The third and fourth placed finishers will receive $150,000 and $100,000 respectively along with trophies.
The other playing days are January 31, February 2, 7, 9, 13 and 17. Meanwhile, the teams have been divided into eight groups of four teams.
Teams will compete initially in a round-robin format in the groups, before the top two finishers in each group progress to the knockout round.
Group ‘A’ features Young Ballers, West Side Ballers, Jetty Ballers and Bing Bang.
Group ‘B’ will have Mocha, Ballers Empire, Agricola and Kuru Kuru Asylum Youths.
Group ‘C’ consists of Terro Squad Nismes Ballers, Torture Squad and Up Like 7.
Group ‘D’ will have the likes of Dream Team, Frontline Ballers, ESPN and Police ‘B’.
Group ‘E’ will see teams such as Veterans, Harmony Ballers, Zeelugt SP and Facebook Ballers.
Group ‘F’ is made up of Cayenne Massive, Agricola Gas Team, Hustlers and Brothers United.
Group ‘G’ contains Zeelugt Warriors, Admiral United, Pouderoyen Rising Stars and Pouderoyen Showstoppers.
Group ‘H’ has Goal Getters, Parfaite Hard Ballers, Harmony Warriors and Police ‘A’.