Guiana’s Club Championship: Geldar de Kourou hammers Alpha, feature game abandoned after referee threatened

Jun 08, 2008 Sports

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By Franklin Wilson in French Guiana with the compliments of Digicel
The race for the championship trophy of the inaugural Guiana’s Club Championship has been thrown wide open following rivalry on the penultimate day of the championship on Friday evening at the Stadium of Baduel in Cayenne, French Guiana.
French Guiana’s top club Geldar de Kourou emulated their Surinamese counterparts when they hammered Guyana’s Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United 4-0 and the host country’s second best side made it a clean sweep on the night when they stunned Suriname champions SV Intermoengotapoe 2-1 in a game that was halted prematurely due to unruly behaviour by club officials and reserve players from SV Intermoengotapoe.
The game which was being refereed by Guyana’s Roland Persaud, who did an excellent job in controlling a very physical encounter, was halted 10 minutes before time after the referee did not blow for a foul in the area which infuriated some of the Surinamese officials and players on the bench.
Persaud was attacked, verbally abused and threats to kill him were made by the angry Surinamese.    

After the incident which saw the reserve players in question throwing a chair unto the field, an emergency meeting involving Federation members of the 3 countries along with club officials from Guyana and Suriname was held at the Federation office just after 12:00hrs yesterday morning to deal with the issue.

After lengthy discussions, it was agreed by all that the culpable officials and players would cease to be a part of the championship and would return home on Saturday (yesterday). The Referee and Federation reports would be forwarded to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) for further action.

Host president Jean-Claude Labrador, a retired Police Chief, expressed his disappointment at the behaviour of the Surinamese lamenting the fact that it was the first time that he has ever had to call in the Police to deal with a football matter.    

The Police was summoned to the venue after Persaud was threatened. He was also removed from the Hotel and taken to another since the player who threatened to dagger him was staying at the same facility along with the Guyana team and other referees.

Labrador stated that the reason for having the two teams and officials stay at the same venue was because he felt that the countries were like a family and staying together would help to further strengthen ties and camaraderie between them which is the aim of the championship.
One of the guilty officials who attended the meeting admitted that he was wrong and accepted the decision taken by the committee.

President Labrador and the organising committee met with the players from Guyana and Suriname yesterday afternoon after a visit to the Museum of Cayenne to re-emphasize the importance of Fair Play and respect for match officials.   

Meanwhile, it was another under par performance from the Guyanese team but all credit must go to the home team for a fine win which put them at the top of the points table with 6, Alpha, the only team without a point.

Leading the home team with a brace of goals was Nalie Opheo with one each from Doekoe Denis and Mertinon David.  Geldar de Kourou controlled the game at will as they enjoyed possession and made good their chances whenever the opportunity was presented.

Alpha’s cause, was not helped when main defender Kelvin McKenzie was sent packing in the 45th minute for a dangerous tackle. But by then the home team was already ahead 1-0, compliments of an 18th minute strike by Opheo. The home team was in an offensive mode from the whistle indicating that they were there for serious business.

Alpha’s technical staff made some tactical changes to the line up starting with Quincy Madramootoo and Elton Brown up front but that partnership did not make much of an impact as the French side used their superior size to good effect.

The first half was not too bad a half for Alpha but again they were guilty of playing the ball in the air rather than on the carpet against a side with a distinct height advantage, the same mistake made against Suriname.

Goalkeeper Ronson Williams brought off two excellent point blank saves during the half which also saw Brown messing up a golden opportunity to level the score, his shot just easing past the upright.
In the second half, Alpha again could not put passes together, again the services of the experienced Shawn Bishop, Dwain Jacobs, Kelvin Smith and Shawn Johnson was desperately missing.  Andrew Murray and Alton Fraser were both substituted as Alpha sought out the elusive equaliser.

Opheo made it a double after 69 minutes when he headed in at the near post. Six minutes later, Denis got into the act when he capitalised on a defensive blunder by Rudian Thomas and Madramootoo to nail his shot past the hapless Williams.

And 4 minutes before time, David drove the final nail which secured their second win in as many matches. They now stand a good chance of claiming the championship trophy and just need a draw against SV Intermoengotapoe when the two square off in the final match of this historic tournament this evening from 8pm.

Alpha tangle with US Matoury in the evening’s first match and will be hoping to finish on a high.
The presentation of prizes is expected to take place immediately after this evening’s matches.

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