THERE was only standing room available at the entertainment centre of Clear Sky Hotel on Saturday evening as Blackheart Production paid out a whopping $105,400 at its prize giving ceremony for the 2018 Blackheart Tournament in collaboration with the Saint Lucia Football Association.
The monies paid out covered goals scored, transportation, prize monies for teams which participated in the tournament and the sanction fee to the Saint Lucia Football Association for staging of the tournament; also included was $5000 to the Saint Lucia Under – 20 team for winning this year’s Big 8 Tournament.
Among those taking home big money was the Vieux Fort South contingent, as their district team won the 2018 Blackheart/SLFA Knockout Football Tournament, their third time in as many years.
Vieux Fort South received $600.00 for goals scored,$25,000 for winning the championship, $5000 for their youth development programme and an additional $5000 for doing the Three Peat; overall prize money $36,000.
Laborie, who finished second in the tournament in the 16 year history of the tournament took home EC$11,100.
Some of the tournament’s many sponsors were specially recognized for their contributions towards making the tournament a tremendous success this year.
CEO of Blackheart Production, David Christopher said, “We had an excellent tournament in 2018; we are proud to pay out $105,400. We will be giving each team a pay slip with the amount of money earned; will then take it to the SLFA for payment”.
The SLFA President Lyndon Cooper was on hand to receive the $105,400 cheque.
In terms of money presented to the National Under-20 team which participated in the Tournament, the SLFA Boss said, “The $5000 and $200 go to the SLFA to cover expenses, you need to be extremely careful when you are awarding prizes to players under the age of 23 years.
“Today or tomorrow this may affect their ability to go to a foreign school or university; sometimes the award is brilliant, the fact that the SLFA is now engaging the universities for scholarships I am now making it abundantly clear that the monies allocated on behalf of those individuals below the age of 23 belong to the SLFA and not the team or individuals”.
“I am saying this because when our players leave this country on scholarships, when they decide to play Blackheart and Coca Cola tournaments, we are actually making them over qualified for a scholarship; we need to be extremely careful what we perpetrate as an organization. In the event information goes out I am not going to say as SLFA President that the money belongs to the SLFA and not to them”.
In other prizes presented on the evening and as expected, Vieux Fort South received the bulk of the awards.
Best Coach, Emmanuel Bellas (Vieux Fort South); Fastest Goal – Jeremie Edward (Laborie) 30 seconds versus Canaries. Most Spectacular Goal, Bernard Edward, from 50 yards out versus Laborie in the finals (Vieux Fort South), Best Goalkeeper – Leon Alexander (Vieux Fort South), Best Defender – GillanFanis (National Under -20 Team), Best Midfielder – Gregson President (Vieux Fort South), Most Goals – four way tie – between Lincoln Phillip (Marchand), Jamil Joseph (Vieux Fort South ), Daryl Francis (Laborie) and Antonius Myers (Vieux Fort South), Fair Play Team – (Soufriere), Special Player – Dornan Edward (Laborie), MVP – Antonius Myers (Vieux Fort South).
More on the Blackheart awards in VOICE Thursday 25th October edition including a fiery speech by SLFA President Lyndon Cooper.
