175th anniversary celebrations
The 175th anniversary celebration of the purchase of Rose Hall by 57 free slaves on August 20, 1842, continued last weekend with the hosting of two sporting tournaments. The Anniversary Committee of the Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club (RHTY&SC) and its eight cricket teams hosted a three team domino competition and a five-a-side football tournament for four teams in Rose Hall Town.
The football tournament was sponsored by the RHTY&SC, the Guyana Football Federation and Balram Shane General Store. The teams involved were Rose Hall Town North, Rose Hall Town South, Rose Hall Town East and Rose Hall Town West. In the semi-finals, North defeated South 2-1 on penalties while East squeezed past West 1-0. In the final, East and South played to an exciting 0-0 in game time before. East won the title via penalties 3-2.
The winners received a winner take all financial package, the 175th Anniversary Trophy while footballs donated by the Guyana Football Federation were handed over to the Rose Hall Town Football Team towards the development of the game in Guyana’s smallest township.
The Domino Tournament consisted teams representing Enterprise Sports Club of East Coast, Demerara, Bad Boys of Rose Hall Town and the Over 35 Group of the RHTY&SC, MS and was sponsored by the National Television Network (NTN). Bad Boys under the leadership of Michael Roach emerged champions after edging out RHTYSC Over-35 Group by one point 75-74 while Enterprise came in third on 70 points.
Enterprise started the six rounds tournament on a high and at the end of the third round was ahead on 41 points while Bad Boys was on 38 and RHTY&SC was in the cellar on 35. Brilliant team work by the Bad Boys team led them to the top giving into the last rounds with 63 points, RHTY&SC on 62 and Enterprise on 61. Ken Kedwaroo of the RHTYSC Domino Team was named Player of the 175th Anniversary Tournament and received a Special Hamper from the Organisers.
Players from all three teams received individual trophies compliments of NTN while the RHTY&SC distributed copies of its Rose Hall Town Information Booklet and Tourist Posters to all participants.
Secretary/CEO of the RHTY&SC MS, Hilbert Foster at the presentation ceremony of both ceremonies stated that his organisation was passionate about the development of all sports and was pleased to promote sports as a safe avenue for all. He disclosed that while the RHTY&SC is widely known for its exploits on the cricket field, it hosts or sponsors a wide range of sporting events like volleyball, chess, scrabble, dominoes, circle tennis, table tennis, football, athletics and basketball.
The RHTY&SC would continue to do so in the future as part of its ‘Say No/Say Yes Campaign’. The long serving Secretary/CEO expressed gratitude to Roy Albert of NTN, Wayne Forde of the Guyana Football Federation and Deonarine Shane of Balram Shane General Store for their sponsorship of the events.
