Youth in Action: Elite League creates platform for Guyana’s future stars

Nov 15, 2015 Sports

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By Santokie Nagulendran

The inaugural GFF Elite League is now into its penultimate round and has already provided a massive foundation for Guyanese football to develop, with the eight teams taking part playing high quality, consistent football for the first time in over a year. The benefit of the league so far has been that, in addition to more established and senior players excelling, there have been a host of young, talented Guyanese footballers who are beginning to make a mark, a positive sign for the future of football in Guyana as well as the long-term future of the National Team.
Delon Lanferman, the 21 year old Alpha United winger/striker, has been the revelation of the season so far, as of writing he is leading the goal-scoring charts (alongside Gregory Richardson) with 9 goals. Lanferman, described by Alpha Coach Wayne Dover as having “deceptive pace, and a great ability to score goals”, is currently being played out of position, featuring on the right wing instead of his favoured position upfront as a striker, but this has not halted his goal-scoring ability. Originally a striker for West Demerara side Den Amstel, Lanferman was signed by Alpha United after featuring in Guyana’s recent Olympic qualifying squad in June. “I saw him for the U23s and said to myself I have to sign this youth because of his scoring ability” said Dover of his decision to sign the player, a move which has reaped massive rewards for the side, his goals are filling the void left by former Alpha United goal-scorers Gregory Richardson and Sheldon Holder, who have both moved on to other clubs in recent times.

Alpha have experimented this season with Kithson Bain, Dwayne Lawrence and Daniel Wilson all featuring as strikers at some point but they have all failed to find form, so Lanferman’s contribution holds even greater value in that respect. Aged just 21, he is surely a player who will be representing the National team sooner rather than later.

Defender Sherwin Skeete is another Under-23 National Team player who has really excelled for Alpha so far, proving to be a solid addition to the team’s defence and even making the ‘Team of the Month’ for September due to the consistency of his performances. Whilst Alpha have lost senior players this season, their younger squad members have compensated by producing stand-out performances which have helped the club find themselves still harbouring realistic hopes of winning the league.

Georgetown Football Club (GFC) have placed a great emphasis on youth players, choosing to stick with their existing squad rather than signing players from abroad or from other Guyanese clubs. The club’s vision is to develop a core squad of youngsters that can benefit the National Team for years to come, and they have sacrificed short-term success in order to achieve this long-term goal. Despite being rooted in the bottom half of the league table, there have been stand-out performances from their young squad, particularly young central midfielder Curtiz Kellman, who has shown a maturity beyond his 17 years in the games he has played in so far, as well as left-back Lynden Dorway, who started 7 of the first 11 league games for the club and is aged just 16. Leading the line is striker Romario Welcome, aged 17, a player who has shown an ability to score important goals for the club so far in the league. Astoundingly, GFC’s goalkeeper is the league’s youngest player, aged just 14 years old, Sesi Norville, still of school age, has found himself lining up against the best players in the country due to injuries in the current squad, before that, fellow teenage goalkeeper Ronel Mclean had been in goal for the clubs victories against GDF and Buxton due to the absence of senior goal-keeper Derrick Carter. With goal-keeping being a notoriously weak area for Guyana’s National Team in recent years, the current teenage goalkeepers at GFC could be the solution if they develop their game as the league progresses.

In an invited comment, GFC Team Manager Faizal Khan elaborated on the vision of the club: “Talent alone is not enough to get ahead in football, a strong desire to come and train every day is required to build a more modern footballing culture at home in Guyana. We at GFC have invested heavily in flying in a physical trainer from Cuba and we also have a full-time medic, there is a real focus on player health and player fitness here. We are building a platform for the best young players in Guyana to come in and get as close to professional academy structures as possible. Our philosophy is not to look at every league game as must-win, we are looking at the bigger picture of putting these young players in an environment that will put them in good stead for when they get professional trials.”

The Elite League has shown that there is a massive talent pool of young footballers in Guyana, and the exposure the league is giving them has been priceless for their development. GFC and Alpha United are just two of the teams giving youth a chance to shine, and should the youngsters make the most of this opportunity, as they have done so far, then this will be an exciting time for the future of football in Guyana.

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