BELIZE CITY, Mon. Oct. 31, 2016
U-17 football
The Belize District Football Association (BDFA) finally held its McLean Insurance Brokers U-17 championship game at 2:00 p.m. yesterday at the MCC Grounds.
The tournament had suffered from a few breaks, first for the National U-17 in Belmopan in late August, then due to field availability problems following the start of the CYDP Peace Cup. An attempt was reportedly made to hold the playoffs at the ITVET (Old Technical) field; but this was rejected by the teams due to the abundance of limestone chips which is dangerous for the players. Eventually, an abbreviated one-day playoff round was held at the MCC on Monday, October 10, a holiday, with games played with 25 minute halves. They managed to complete the semifinals, and reach as far as the third-place game, where San Pedro prevailed over Brown Bombers. The final between Hattieville Riverside Boyz and Young Warriors FC was then put on hold, until yesterday.
There is a bundle of football talent, without a doubt, in the Belize District, despite the fact that no Belize City youth reportedly travelled to Valladolid, Mexico, with the National U-17 recently.
Some sources opine that the BDFA is dropping the ball where the proper organization of tournaments and looking after the welfare of young players is concerned.
The McLean Insurance Brokers U-17 championship game was played with 30-minute halves yesterday. Hattieville Riverside Boyz were victorious, 2-1, with first half goals from Richard Hines and Jadon McGregor. They also failed to convert a penalty in second half, which was kicked over the goal by Mario Rivera. Kyle Samuels scored the only goal for Young Warriors, who had a good second half, and may have fared better with a full 45-45.
We were very impressed with Hattieville forward Richard Hines and goalkeeper Jason Cho; and also with forward Kenroy Linares of Young Warriors.
After the game, FFB President Marlon Kuylen accompanied Onan McLean of McLean Insurance Brokers in handing out the team trophies, medals to players on the winning and second place teams, and trophies to individual award winners. Hattieville Riverside Boyz received the team championship trophy; second place trophy went to Fabro’s Young Warriors; and the third-place trophy went to San Pedro U-17.
Individual awards were:
Best Defence – Michael Robinson (Hattieville Riverside Boys)
Best Midfield – Dion Cacho (Fabro’s Young Warriors)
Golden Boot – Kenroy Linares (Fabro’s Young Warriors)
MVP – Jadon McGregor – (Hattieville Riverside Boys)
The BDFA would like to thank Mclean Insurance and the FFB for making the U-17 tournament possible.
Inter-Office again
In other football news, which we confess a lack of enthusiasm for (We would much prefer hearing about a U-15 or U-13 or even a 1st Division Closing Season), the BDFA today announced the start of its BDFA Inter-Office Competition this Thursday at the MCC Grounds.
Scheduled games are:
Thursday, November 3
7:30 p.m. – KHMH vs RF&G Insurance
9:15 p.m. – Smart vs BTL
Food & Drinks will be on sale.
(Information courtesy William Moguel, Chairman, BDFA)