Some of the players who would be playing on Sunday (Photo: Avenash Ramzan)
By Avenash Ramzan
The Golden Jaguars President’s XI and Indigenous XI players are bursting with enthusiasm ahead of this Sunday’s charity football game, geared at raising funds for victims of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which ravaged parts of the Caribbean earlier this month.
At a pre-match press conference on Friday, players from both sides shared their thoughts on the initiative, which will bring together the President’s XI and the Indigenous XI, an All-star team which was selected from the just concluded Indigenous Heritage Games, in the feature encounter from 20:00h at the Everest ground, Camp Road.
The opening game, a female encounter starting at 18:00h, will bring together the National Under-17 squad against an All-star team.
Jeremy Garrett of the Golden Jaguars President’s XI expressed congratulation to the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) and the other stakeholders who came up with the initiative, noting that “it’s a great idea to have the game.”
“The whole idea of the game is to give charity to the countries that were affected by the hurricanes. I know we’re one of the luckiest countries in the world because we don’t experience these things; if we did I know for a fact that we would have wanted help from other countries, so for the country to come up with an idea like this I must commend those who really thought of the idea to have a game to lend help to the other countries that were affected,” Garrett explained.
His teammate, Curtez Kellman, was equally receptive to the idea of playing in such a game.
“You know this game has been put in place for us to help out the victims of the hurricane Irma and hurricane Maria so we would like to thank the GFF. Also this game not only helping that (cause), it also helping us in preparation for the (international friendly) game against Grenada on the 7th (October 7), and we want to put our best foot forward. We want to show what we would have learnt in each session for the past three weeks and we want to go out there on Sunday and put it there on the field,” Kellman stated.
Kellman envisages a “competitive game” and cautioned his teammates that the Indigenous All-Star XI would be “no walkover” as they recently played in the Indigenous Heritage Games.
Indigenous All-Star XI skipper Keron Solomon said his charges are looking to give the Golden Jaguars players a solid warm-up game ahead of next week’s international friendly against the Grenadians.
“Most of our players are in the camp are so excited to come up against some of the good players in the national team. We expect to put up a great fight against them, so may the best team win,” Solomon said.
National player Delano Mentore, who will be turning out for the Indigenous All-Star XI, said it is a great opportunity for the players from the hinterland to play against the national set-up.
“We’re looking forward for the support from the fans. We hope you come out in numbers and we’re here to give the Golden Jaguars- it’s not a walkover like they said, but we’re here to put our best foot forward and enjoy the match,” Mentore stated.
Funds garnered from the two games will go to victims of hurricane-ravaged Caribbean islands. Admission to the venue is $500, and persons can make donations at a desk that will be set up at the venue.
The initiative is a collaborative effort of the Guyana Football Federation, the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs and Banks DIH Limited.
