Vice-chairman of the Barbados Invitational Masters Football Classic’s (BIMFC) organising committee Trevor Thorne, has reiterated his call for more financial support following the conclusion of this year’s tournament on Monday.
Speaking during an interview with Barbados TODAY, Thorne said while the BIMFC remains the Caribbean’s biggest Master’s Football Festival, it is under pressure from rival regional tournaments, some of which are being played at the same time.
“The islands, all of them are picking up on stuff that BIMFC does, and of course they get massive support from their governments. Then let’s say we’re slow in moving in that direction, then there could be a threat of BIMFC being exported and the product even becoming better because it has much more resources to deploy,” Thorne said.
He said if that were to happen it would be a big loss to Barbados’ tourism industry.
He pointed to the example of the visiting Cockney Rebels team, which moved from one to two teams this year and from 30 to almost 70 players.
“While here they are renting vehicles and staying in hotels or guest houses. They also require transportation to move from game to game, they’re stopping at restaurants, they’re buying food, they’re seeing souvenirs as well and purchasing.
“So as organisers we will continue to punch, some say above our weight, but the more help we can get, then the better for Barbados’ tourism, masters football and the overall economy,” he said.
Thorne also hinted at a possible change to the venues for games in future editions.
“For next year we’re getting a buzz already with people saying they want to return, but obviously they want to return under some conditions which we try to be reasonable to. They want to be playing on the best surfaces and as I said, this year we ended at the BFA turf but we also took a trip down to the Usain Bolt Complex as well, and that went very well.
“We did have to use a couple of grass fields which weren’t all in the best condition because of the drought, but hopefully next year we’ll be able to move and we’ve identified a couple of venues,” Thorpe said.
“Some say the Mecca, but obviously we’ve got to get our heads to the ground and see if we can have some type of proposal that we can play games at Kensington Oval, and I’m sure the players will be delighted.”
On the pitch at the Wildey Technical Centre in the newly introduced 60 and Over division, The Old Boys’ Club took first place over Black Rock Masters, Cockney Rebels, and Blue Cloud.
Adrian AD Best starred as Paradise topped the new 55 and Over division by hammering Zepherins Pinelands 3-0.
In other results on Monday, Rob Margrave scored the match-winning penalty kick to pilot the UK-based Cockney Rebels to the coveted Over-50s title at the expense of Royalty Ballers.
In the final clash of the night, goalkeeper Dwayne Webb produced a Man-of-the-Match performance with two brilliant saves to lead Carib Wildey Masters over second place Empire Club.
The event’s organisers also expressed their condolences following the sudden passing of visiting player Audley Taffe on Saturday at the Kickstart Playing Field in Wildey.
The 59-year-old Canadian was a member of the visiting Global Masters Football team.
(KH)
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