Any lingering doubt put to rest

Jan 03, 2013 Sports

By Rawle Welch
If ever there was any lingering doubt as to which is the biggest yearend sports event, the tens of thousands of spectators who turned up at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground to witness the finals of the Banks Beer / GFA Knockout Cup emphatically put to rest that uncertainty.

Jamaican Dancehall King Beenie Man bellows out one of his songs to the thousands of fans that attended the finals of the Banks Beer / GFA Knockout Cup on Tuesday evening at the GCC ground.

Since its inauguration last year, the event which was organised to reward teams that were not invited to the other yearend tournament, has enjoyed tremendous support from the general public and must now clearly be considered the bigger of the two competitions.
With Jamaican Dancehall King Beenie Man in attendance, over 25,000 patrons trekked to the world famous Bourda venue to witness the finale of a tournament which started on December 16 and had prize money totaling in excess of $9 million up for grabs.
The Organisers and sponsor Banks DIH must be grateful to the management of the GCC for allowing them the use of the facility in spite of the inclement weather which threatened to put a damper on the tournament in the early stages, while the patience and fortitude displayed by the fans must come in for honourable mention as they resisted all attempts to dissuade them from supporting the event.
What was witnessed on Tuesday evening surely is enough to prompt swift and serious dialogue between the respective parties to establish a contract of agreement for the future use of the ground, while assisting in the improvement of permanent seating accommodation and all the other issues related to hosting the event must also be of priority.
The fans have played their part in easing the stranglehold of power that resided in one entity and it is now up to the GFA to repay them for their loyalty and helping to reduce the monopoly and pompousness that characterised football at yearend previously.
The chains have been broken and the GFA is now being urged to carefully study the reason (s) for its success and stay on course and do nothing stupid because the consequences could be disastrous.
There are quite a few issues that need to be addressed and among them are the oversubscribing of the Members Pavilion which was transformed into the VIP Lounge, adequate seating accommodation for the Press Corps and comfortable access to the gate of entry leading into the ground among others.
These are some of the areas that will have to be examined carefully and solutions arrived at to make next year an even better one that the previous two years.
The overwhelming support has provided a large degree of optimism and positiveness to the sport which has performed exceedingly well on-field, but has suffered negatively from the ongoing wrangling between the Guyana Football Federation and the GFA which has badly affected the sport’s image, especially within the corporate community.
The fans have responded it is now over to the GFA and Banks DIH Management.