Essequibo Island, Parika Salem to kick-off Digicel Schools Football

By Avenash Ramzan

The storm is about to begin as schools nationwide come closer to taking the field in the seventh annual Digicel Schools Football Championship, set for a grand kick-off on Monday, June 12. The official kick-off for the 2017 edition of the tournament is billed for the Leonora Track and Field facility at 15:00h.

Senior officials of Digicel and representatives of other stakeholder bodies are set to officially declare the tournament open before Essequibo Island Secondary and Parika Salem Secondary go head-to-head in the curtain raiser. The journey to the seventh edition of the tournament commenced on May 31 last when the official launch took place at the West Demerara Secondary School.

Widely regarded as the most compelling nationwide schools football tournament, the knockout competition is held every year under the theme ‘Unite. Develop. Excel.’  

It has once again attracted schools from all 10 administrative regions of Guyana, and no doubt student footballers will seek to perform on the biggest school football stage in the country. Over the years, the tournament has unearthed talents from far-flung areas, bringing them to national recognition, and this year promises to be no different.  

Given the sponsor’s knack for always bettering the previous year’s tournament, this year’s edition could be the best yet, as plans are fully on stream for another successful competition. 

Defending champions Chase Academic Foundation, who is also the three-time Milo School Football champions, will be out to defend their title, after they snapped Christianburg/Wismar title-winning streak in 2016.  

Before last year’s final, the Linden school had won the tournament for a record four times on the trot, while Government Technical Institute emerged as the inaugural champions.