As the National Milling Company of Guyana (NAMILCO) prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary of operations in Guyana, the company has included sport in the festivities, partnering with the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) once again to host a national Under-17 tournament.
Taking on a similar format to that of the Frank Watson Under-15 tournament, the NAMILCO Under-17 tournament will first be played at the Regional Member Association (RMAs) level, before there is a grand playoff with the nine winners, to crown a national champion.
The tournament, which is expected to start in the second weekend of March and run until the end of July, will see the teams within the nine RMAs playing one or two rounds of league football depending on the numbers of clubs in each
NAMILCO Managing Director Bert Sukhai was proud of football’s achievements at the Under-17 level
association.
According to GFF Technical Director Ian Greenwood, this tournament augurs well for national team scouting.
“The tournament this year will give us an opportunity to scout more players from across Guyana from all of the RMAs to show that we have the very best players in the national team programme,” Greenwood said
The Technical Director went on to emphasise the importance of such programmes, stating, “So, if we can see these programmes running for four, five, six years, we’ll be able to see a real conveyor belt of players being developed at every age group and that is the only way we’re going to really develop.”
Meanwhile, GFF President Wayne Forde shared a few milestones that the Under-17 tournament has achieved through NAMILCO’s sponsorship.
“Often times when we speak of this relationship we use the words pioneering. But just let me mention three points that capture the pioneering aspect of this relationship. The GFF/ NAMILCO U-17 tournament is the first multi-year contract in the history of Guyana’s football,” Forde noted.
He went on to disclose that the GFF/ NAMILCO flour power U-17 tournament represented the largest financial commitment to football with $30 million injected over five years by NAMILCO. And the NAMILCO tournament is the first officially sanctioned and organised tournament in Region One, with both male and female games kicking off last year.
In addition, the GFF President sees the inclusion of the National Training Centre as a boost to the body’s developmental strategies.
“And now that we have a home of football, we’re going to do everything within our means to prepare the Under -7 team that will be drawn from the intra- association tournament, so that when we come up against the teams that we are matched with for the World Cup qualifier, we can represent Guyana and the company that has made this all possible with distinction,” Forde said.
Citing the fact that Guyana has jumped to 18th place out of 41 in the CONCACAF Under-17 rankings, NAMILCO Director Bert Sukhai noted that he was pleased with the improvements and was elated that this was the result of the company’s continued efforts.
“It’s good to see that out of the Under-17 [tournament], we have footballers now who are playing nationally and that was one of our objectives when we started. That we hope to see more international football and I’m happy to see that that’s happening,” Sukhai stated.
The RMAs participating will be Bartica Football Association (FA), Berbice FA, East Bank FA, East Demerara FA, Essequibo-Pomeroon FA, Georgetown FA, Rupununi FA, Upper Demerara FA and West Demerara FA.
