Elite League breathes life back into Slingerz FC

With no competitive senior football being played since the 25th Kashif and Shanghai tournament in April, and a hefty monthly bill to ensure its existence, the West Demerara-based Slingerz Football Club was on the verge of being scrapped, according to General Manager, Colin Aaron.

“We were deciding, based on how the football was going at this time- nothing was happening- that we have achieved everything and there is nothing more to go after. Running on a budget of over Gy$5 million a month for gaining nothing, he [owner Javed Ali] was thinking of pulling the plug on the club,” Aaron said on Wednesday.

However, the Guyana Football Federation’s Stage Elite League came along, and the club, which is just two years old, but has won all of the tournaments entered, except the Namilco Football Classic, managed to fulfill all the requirements to gain entry into the League.

According to Aaron, being afforded the opportunity to compete in the first-ever Elite League in Guyana has brought the club back to life, and there is a renewed energy among the players and management.

“It was a good gesture of the NC [Normalisation Committee] to come along with the Elite League that generated a new interest, a new energy into the club and the ownership, and we decide we will give it a go…not just a go, but we’re working very hard to win this first Elite League,” Aaron divulged.

Slingerz FC will face perennial rivals Alpha United in the main game of a double-header on Friday evening when the Elite League gets cracking at the Leonora football facility. The match could potentially set the tone for the rest of the competition, as the two teams are considered heavy favourites to lift the title.

Earlier this week, Ali said he sees the Stag Elite League as “the window for the next level”, further stating “this is what my club was built for- to participate in the League and move on to the CFU and hopefully CONCACAF.”

He pointed out, “If it wasn’t for the League, my club would’ve been out of football because we don’t have nowhere else to go and nothing more to win or to prove. We won almost everything, we had a chance to play in the Banks tournament we won it, we played in the Kashif and Shanghai and won that too and also we played the Mayor’s Cup and we won it after finishing runner-up the first year, so basically, everything for football we’ve won.”

Apart from their already strong line-up Slingerz FC recently signed national Under-23 forward Domini Garnett from Caledonia AIA, along with St Vincent and the Grenadines national goalkeeper Winslow McDowall, and his compatriots defenders Jolanshoy McDowall and Keith James. (aramzan@guyanatimesgy.com)