Latest update July 30th, 2026 1:03 AM
Latest News
- Canadian firm pockets US$2.2B on Guyana gold field, country gets nothing
- ‘Indigenous people have suffered under ‘broken’ transport system for decades’ – APA’s Executive Director
- Protests spread to Den Amstel, Melanie over arrest of MV Barima crew members
- Opposition mobilises lawyers, warns families against signing compensation documents in MV Barima tragedy
- Taxi driver killed after truck collides with car at Goedverwagting
Overseas Foundation targets Guyana’s football revival
The victorious 1970 New Amsterdam/Canje football team, winners of the Guyana primary School football tournament some 38 years ago, has formed themselves into a group called the New Amsterdam Primary Secondary School Football Foundation (NAPSS) with membership based in the USA and Guyana.
The President is Gladstone Prass, Vice Presidents Roger Alphonso and Granton Innis, while there are two Secretary/Treasurers for USA Marcia Ross and Guyana Petra Forde.
The mission of NAPSS Football Foundation is, to revive the student-athlete ethos through highly competitive football among secondary schools in Guyana; to develop players with an optimal mix of academic achievement and technical football skill, and provide a continuous stream of disciplined and dynamic young players to inspire Guyana’s National Football team towards its first ever world cup qualifying match.
The central philosophy of the foundation is, “World cup representation must be preceded by World Cup vision, World Cup resources, and World Cup preparation.”
The overriding objective of the group is to create a grassroots academy of Guyana’s most talented youth footballers, to nurture and develop them into world-class calibre players, and to elevate the standard of Guyana’s National Football team to a highly competitive level, thus assuring a qualifying position in the CONCACAF regional tournament within the next decade or two.
The group has thus planned a reunion called, “the reunion for the Champions of the Guyana Primary School tournament to be held in their home town of New Amsterdam, Berbice from August 7-17th.
One of the organisation’s main activities during the two weeks of celebration will be the hosting of the inaugural NAPPS Secondary School Football Tournament:” which will be called the “The NAPSS 2009 Cup”, which according to the foundation is to support participation between schools.
The tournament will involve eight high school teams from Berbice and would be held over the weekends of the 8th and 15th August. The tournament is to be staged every other year.
The activity was launched in Guyana Sunday with a ceremony at Fordy’s Subletta Restaurant, Hangout and bar at the junction of Winkle Road and Tucber Park, New Amsterdam, Berbice.
Secretary of the New York chapter of the foundation Marcia Paul-Ross is in Guyana and she told the media that the main purpose of her forward visit is to get the ball rolling and to hand over the necessary equipment balls, nets, cones, whistles, bibs and other stuff to the respective schools.
The schools involved are Vryman’s Erven Secondary, Canje Secondary, New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary, Berbice Educational Institute, Berbice High, Tutorial Academy High and two guest teams from Corriverton and Rosignol.
A number of other activities have been planned for the week of celebrations, including an awards dinner and dance to be held at the Little Rock Suites.
According to Miss Petra Forde preparations are going well and Berbicians can expect a thoroughly action packed two weeks of activities.
The New Amsterdam/Canje 1970 School team beat all and sundry to win the Guyana primary School football Tournament, some 38 years ago.
The Manager was former Mayor and president of the Guyana Football Association Errol Alphonso. The team was coached by former school teacher Gladstone Prass and was made up of Captain, Martin Inniss, Goalkeepers, Dennis Ellis and Neil Jones. The other players were Granton Inniss, Roger Alphonso, Neil Humphrey, Colin Jones, twin brothers Walford and Walton Edwards, Michael Taylor, Rickford Belgrave, Richard Staglon, Hubern Evans, Winston Henry and Floyd Grimmond among others.
A number of the players went on to represent Guyana at the senior football level including Martin, Granton Inniss, Roger Alphonso and Neil Humphrey while Hubern Evans represented Guyana at Cricket.
The formation of the foundation is the Brain Child of Roger Alphonso, who according to Miss Ross, decided to act after visiting Guyana a few years ago and seeing the state of Guyana’s football. The former national ball weaver upon his return to the US decided that he will work to give back tangible support to his home town.
The contact persons overseas are; Roger Alphonso, Gladwin Prass and Marcia Paul-Ross, while in Guyana the contact is Petra Forde.
Share this:
Discover more from Kaieteur News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.