BY SHERDON COWAN

Observer staff reporter

GULF Strikers were crowned national champions of the inaugural staging of the LIME Street Football Challenge by defeating Smokers of Hanover 3-1 in an exciting east versus west final in Half-Way-Tree square on Friday.

The team, which hails from the Morant Bay area of St Thomas, received the grand prize of $1 million, and will now travel all-expense-paid to Trinidad & Tobago where they will represent Jamaica at the Regional Guinness Street Football competition June 6-7 at the Jean Pierre Complex.

Gulf Strikers will be the first team from Jamaica to participate in the competition where they will go up against the host who are defending champions along with teams from Dominica, St Vincent & the Grenadines, St Lucia, St Kitts, Guyana and Antigua.

The winner of that competition will receive US$5,000 ($5.5 million) and an Introductory Advance Level Coaching Course accredited by FIFA.

Winning coach Ernest Huie said he expected his team to go all the way from the initial stage of the competition because of the unity within their setup.

“We are very elated, even though we expected to win. We were all confident that we would go all the way from the day we entered. This is the best thing that has ever happened to football in Jamaica…this is the sweet ‘LIME’ and not a sour one,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Huie went on to add that though the monetary prize is small, they plan on giving back to the St Thomas community as they continue preparations for the major tournament in the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

“We are going to share it up amongst each other, it’s a small money but the guys will feel good. We also plan on doing something for the community, we are not sure what it is yet, but we are definitely going to do something.

“From here we are going to continue working because we are going to Trinidad to win and fly the Jamaican flag high, and I want to thank all who came out and supported us; we really appreciate it,” said Huie.

Player/coach of Hanover, Dwayne Smith, blamed over-confidence and lack of communication for his

team’s loss.

“I am very disappointed, because the guys didn’t stick to the plan, we told them to keep marking and they didn’t’ so some easy goals were scored on us. We have some quality players and we expected to reach the final, but we didn’t know that we were going to lose it…I think we were too over-confident,” he said.

Gulf Strikers and Street People of Kingston ensured that the crowd had fun in the afternoon sun, when they played to a 2-2 stalemate in full and extra-time in the curtain-raiser. Gulf Strikers went on to win 2-1 on penalties. Nicholas Tucker in the sixth and 20th minutes got the goals for Street People, while Kirk East in the third minute and Kemar Williams in the 25th minute were the goal scorers for Gulf Strikers.

The second semi-final between the blazing wildcards Grange Hill Alliance out of Westmoreland and Smokers FC got the patrons pumped up, which served notice for what was to come in the final, when they, too, played to a 2-2 stalemate in full and extra-time. Smokers separated themselves with a 3-2 win on penalties. Dwayne Smith (15th) and Conrad Facey (26th) got the goals for Smokers in regular and extra-time play, while Ryan Gayle in the 11th and 25th minutes was the goalscorer for Grange

Hill Alliance.

The telecommunications firm ensured that entertainment was at its peak during the break, with a LIME versus Celebrities game, which LIME won 5-4. Dancehall artiste Aidonia scored all four goals for the celebrities.

The teams were then led to the field and greeted by sponsors and members of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), afterwhich Craig of Voicemail did a rendition of the National Anthem.

It was fast-paced, end-to-end action in the first 15 minutes, but neither team managed to break the deadlock and so they went to the break. The second stanza began with some urgency, when Herman Duncan shot Gulf Strikers in front in the 16th minute.

Smokers in their bid to equalise were caught flat-footed when Kirk East struck from close to the centre circle in the 22nd minute to make it 2-0, before Andrew Wright capitalised on a defensive error to send the game beyond the reach of the Smokers in the 27th minute. Brendon Webb grabbed a consolation for Smokers in the 28th minute.

Dwayne Smith of Smokers won the top goal-scorer honours.

The enthralling fast-paced four-a-side competition saw over 700 teams entering, over 235 matches played and over 927 riveting goals

being scored.

LIME’s vice-president of marketing Carlo Redwood said that the concept came about with the thought of the World Cup and the competition turned out to be the World Cup of scrimmage.

“The feeling is great, we expected the fans to love it, and we got that overwhelming support from all the communities across Jamaica. All footballers from across the island came out and showcased their talent and this is the World Cup of scrimmage, so we are very, very happy with what happened this year,” Redwood told the Observer.

He continued: “We never do too much for our customers; we are always looking to bring more value to our customers and this is just another way of giving back to them. The fans came out… Half-Way-Tree today (Friday), a huge turnout, no incident, everyone just came out to enjoy football and we couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Redwood also highlighted that the telecommunications company is always looking at innovative ways to interact with customers and will be reviewing the tournament as they seek to go forward with the competition next year

and beyond.

Meanwhile, president of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Captain Horace Burrell outlined that the competition serves as a confirmation that football is the greatest sport on Earth.

“Looking at a simple competition like this with so many persons coming together to enjoy excitement and everybody will be leaving here fully satisfied with this game, so again this just goes to show that football by far is the greatest sport on earth,” said Burrell.

He went on to add he intends to take the idea to the international football body as an aim of boosting the competition.

“FIFA looks at all types of organised football and having seen what this type of football has done, I intend to make a pitch to FIFA with a view to having this looked at in the same way that beach football is looked at… maybe not too long from now FIFA will organise a World Cup in street football and it will be said that it all started here in Jamaica.”

Meanwhile, Ricardo ‘Bibi’ Gardner, the tournament’s official endorser, expressed his delight in seeing scrimmage — a popular version of football played on the streets and lanes of Jamaica — being organised at this level.

“I am definitely happy to be a part of this; it was great to see scrimmage at this level. These guys started out playing on the streetside and now here they are playing in front of a huge crowd. It is great excitement merged with entertainment and I think this was a big success.

“LIME has outdone themselves. This is something new and something that the nation has been waiting for and I think this is just the start of it,” said the former Bolton Wanderers star.

Gardner will be mentoring Gulf Strikers leading up to their departure to the regional tournament.