20/20 action moves over to football field

The fever created by the Stanford 20/20 cricket has caught on to football.

Though not in the same format, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) has formulated its own 20/20 competition to kick off the Guinness Inter League, at the Victoria Park, Saturday, August 19.{{more}}

Tomorrow’s action begins at 2 p.m., with the official opening ceremony slated for 6 p.m.

Twenty-minute elimination matches will be played among 11 of the participating male senior teams, as well as the registered leagues in the women’s and Under-17 competitions. Penalty kicks will determine the winner in the event that scores are level at the end of the 20 minutes.

President of the SVGFF St. Claire Leacock said that he is cognisant of the threat 20/20 cricket is posing to other sports, hence his insistence on introducing an exciting dimension.

“We have to jump ahead and find ways and means of making football attractive,” Leacock said.

Bent on making the sport a viable entity, Leacock stated that local football needed to have a “commercial” component.

The football boss said that the Inter league competition would be highly flavoured in keeping with the development trends and attractions.

The Inter League competition will see 14 teams drawn in two groups of seven participating.

A round robin preliminary stage will see four teams emerging to the second phase.

The eight teams will then play each other, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final staged following, based on the standings from the second round.

Group One sees defending champion Arnos Vale, Marriaqua, Calliaqua, Bequia, North Leeward, South Leeward and the national Under-20 competing.

Sion Hill, Barrouallie, Layou, Kingstown, Stubbs, Brighton and North East contest Group Two. This competition was last held in 2002-03.

Apart from the Inter League seniors, an Under-17 competition featuring seven of the representative leagues will also be staged.

The last Under-17 League tournament was held in 1999, with Generationext Sion Hill taking the top spot. A new champion will emerge this time around as Sion Hill will not be defending their title.

And, with women’s football catching on, an invitational competition involving five teams playing four rounds will boost the federation’s efforts to get a full-fledged tournament going.

The Sion Hill Football League in the mid-1990s was the first to organise a women’s competition in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The three competitions will run concurrently, as the federation maximises its usage of the Victoria Park.

The winner of the senior Inter League competition takes home $5,000.