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Alpha United President criticize gambling at football matches

Dec 31, 2009 Sports

Backs his team to cart off K&S honours

President of the Alpha United FC, Odinga Lumumba is disturbed over what he regards as blatant betting during the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament. He has issued a call to the President of the Guyana Football Federation, Colin Klass, to address his concerns before they balloon out of proportion.
Lumumba was referring to the offer made by a businessman to stake in the vicinity of 3 million dollars to the winner of the Pele/BK Western Tigers semi-final match Monday evening last. He said that this was akin to gambling and could set the wrong precedent for the football fraternity.
One of the organizers of the K&S tournament, Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major debunked Lumumba’s views saying that the act could not be interpreted as gambling. He pointed out that an enthusiastic businessman had pledged 3 million dollars to the team winning the semi-final encounter between Pele/BK Western Tigers. The businessman in question is scheduled to hand over the prize to the management of Western Tigers sometime today.
Despite this, Major is adamant that the act cannot be construed as gambling. However, he said that in the interest of the game he has ordered the concerned parties to desist from such acts in the future.
Major said that while he has no problem with anyone supporting the team of their choice, he was against publicizing the gesture as was done during the semi-final match. He has since instructed the relevant persons to desist from such acts.
Lumumba’s disgruntlement stemmed from what he perceived to be a clear cut case of gambling. He said that the message being sent out by the act hinted at gambling by certain groups. He also said that if such behaviours are not monitored they may very well spill over to the officials. “I am not accusing the referees of skullduggery but one cannot help but suspect that such acts may very well be transcended to the officials and create major problems,” Lumumba stated.
He referred to the act as ‘gutter tactics’ and warned that if not checked immediately could lead to major problems later on. He called for an immediate end to such behaviours before the situation gets out of hand. “These individuals should be banned from football venues. I’m concerned about what could possibly transpire on New Year’s night at the finals,” Lumumba raged.
Meanwhile, amidst such concerns, the Alpha United boss is confident that his boys would ‘bring home the bacon’ in the clash against Western Tigers on January 1. “Pound for pound the Alpha United team is the best team locally,” Lumumba boasted. He admitted that the team had not been playing up to their true potential but remains confident that they would rise to the occasion in the finals.
“Alpha has not been playing to their full potential. Camptown should have gotten 10-0 but we were a bit complacent,” he admitted. He feels that his team needs to strengthen on their finishes. Lumumba further said that he has issued specific instruction to the team to lift their game a notch for the finals.
Notwithstanding this, the Alpha Utd boss is confident that his team would come out victorious. “Alpha will win this title but we are not totally oblivious to the ability of the Western Tigers,” he said.
Quizzed on the source of such confidence Lumumba emphatically stated, “The Alpha Utd team comprises a good bunch of players, our training staff is on top of their game and the discipline exhibited throughout the tournament has been impeccable. These are the traits that would see us through.
(Michael Benjamin)

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