Vitamalt Chanti Cup opens

The Vitamalt “Chanti Cup” football tournament got off to a splendid start at the Philbert Frame playing field in Chantimelle last Saturday with a knockout tournament amongst the participating teams. 

According to Jelani Glean, chairman of the competition’s organising committee, the village of Chantimelle has not hosted a tournament for more than five years, despite its rich traditions in football and a reputation for hosting one of the largest local tournaments on the island, owing to lack of funding and rehabilitation work carried out on the playing field. Nonetheless, he said, the organising committee was determined to reinitiate the once annual tournament and with a little help from community members and sponsors Vitamalt, Coca Cola, Etang, Chantimelle Organisation for Development and Grenada Football Association, it all became a reality.  

Mr. Glean in his remarks was also keen to point out there is a lot more behind the committee’s intention than just hosting a tournament for the sake of entertainment. He noted that many young players will get their break into the village’s GFA Premiere league team, Chantimelle FC, based on their performance in the tournament. Moreover, he emphasised, plans are already on the way by the committee to start a GFA “Grassroots” program at the venue for young boys and girls from the village and surrounding communities, as well as a women team to represent the village in GFA.

Present and declaring the competition officially open was GFA President, Cheney Joseph. Being fully pleased with the participation of 20 teams and the support of the many fans who turned out despite the grim rainy weather, he pledged GFA’s full endorsement of the competition and reaffirmed his organisation’s commitment to support the organising committee in their efforts to ensure the successful execution of the tournament and the future development of football in Chantimelle, particularly in the areas of youth and women football development.

Team Puzzlers out of Victoria walked off with a $200 prize and was crowned the winner of the knockout after defeating team Red Card out of Chantimelle, who had to settle for the runner up $100 prize, 3-2 in a sudden death penalty kick-off after playing to a nil-nil draw in regulation time. Regular season games kick off on Monday, October 22, and continue daily with double-headers on weekends, with a match between Expire Sea Coconut and Eagles Super Strikers.