The bpTT Mayaro Football League got an exciting start to this season on Saturday with a Mayaro All-Star XI matching skills with T&T Pro-League team Police in an exhibition match at the Mayaro Recreation Ground.
The policemen prevailed with a 3-1 victory in a hard-fought contest. The evening was also used to pay tribute to founder and longstanding organiser of the League, Razack Jan, who has called it a day.
Management of the league will now be handled by Illusion Sports Club, with energy company bpTT continuing its sponsorship for the 12th consecutive year.
Matthew Pierre, public relations officer of Illusion, praised Jan for his sterling contribution to the development of football in Mayaro over the past 25 years. Ronda Francis, manager, Corporate Social Responsibility also expressed her appreciation for the “tremendous hard work and dedication” that Jan had put in to pioneer the development of football in Mayaro.
In the match, Police dominated play but squandered the best scoring chances resulting in the first half ending goalless. However, the Mayaro representative team, understandably rusty at the beginning of their season, soon got into their stride and created chances of their own.
Mayaro All-Stars stepped up their game after the interval and took the lead through star striker Carlon “Bound-to-Score” Hughes, who beat the Police custodian with a thunderbolt four minutes into the half.
Police equalised in the 75th minute with a penalty by Christopher Sam who scored again four minutes later to send his team into the lead. Kerron Foster netted a third goal for the visitors in time added on.
The League will be contested in three divisions: Senior, Under-17 and U-15, with league and knockout competitions in all three divisions. Registration ends today, with the league competition kicking off on Saturday.