St Lucia Football Association and Blackheart join forces

The race for the Big Eight Blackheart Productions Competition sees only one final spot up for grabs in Group 1. The final spot was determined following the outcome of the match between Desruisseaux and Vieux Fort South, played at Marchand Grounds on Wednesday evening. The game ended 1-1 which means Desruisseaux move on to play in the Big Eight.

The qualifiers to date are: Group 1: Canaries, Roseau Valley, Gros Islet and Desruisseaux. Group 2: Marchand, Dennery, Central Castries and Mabouya Valley. The Big Eight will be played this weekend at the Phillip Marcellin Grounds in Vieux Fort. Matches are slated to commence at 4:00 pm daily. Up for grabs is a first prize purse of $4,000 while the second place team will receive $2,000.

The structure of the Big Eight will see the teams placed in two groups of four, with matches played on a knockout basis. Matches will be of 60 minutes duration, in two halves of thirty minutes. The draw for the groupings was finalized after the playing of matches in the Island Cup on September 4 at the Marchand Grounds.

Details of the Big Eight Tournament, along with the upcoming Blackheart Knockout Football Tournament, were unveiled at Tuesday’s press conference at the St Lucia Football Association Inc headquarters in La Clery. 

At the press conference General Secretary of the SLFA Inc, Victor Reid, announced the following: “There is a total marriage of SLFA Inc and Blackheart in the implementation and presentation of the 2019 Blackheart Championship. I am sure you would recall there was some friction in the past as to how the tournament was being run, in that it was a very private company running the football competition. After years of dialogue, compromise and so on, we came to an agreement that the tournament would come under the auspices of the St Lucia Football Association. Now that we have achieved the final part of the puzzle, the St Lucia Football Association has declared that the SLFA Island Cup, taking place every year, will include the Blackheart Championship. So the whole plan this year really is to make Blackheart an integral part of the SLFA Island Cup.”

Reid pointed out that the SLFA wants to make the Island Cup its biggest championship, with in excess of 90 matches being played. This year will see a notable change when it comes to qualification for the Blackheart Knockout Football Tournament. 

Reid said: “A number of things have changed. I think in the past there were qualifiers for teams to qualify for the Big Eight and also there were qualifiers in terms of selecting 16 teams to play in Blackheart. What we have agreed to now, is that the top eight teams in the Island Cup would now automatically qualify to the Big Eight play-offs and also all the teams that played in the Island Cup would be eligible to play in the Blackheart Tournament.

CEO of Blackheart Productions, David “Shakes” Christopher, elaborated on Reid’s announcement: “I think we have been clamouring for this a long time, to really work under one umbrella. The sport could be the winner and not individuals, and I think we are at the juncture now where we decided to work together. The Blackheart SLFA Island Cup Knockout Tournament is going to be one segment.”

In other news, the finals are now set for the St Lucia Football Association Inc. Western Zone Under-17 football competition. In the second semi-final, played on Tuesday at the Marigot playing field, CT Foundation FC defeated T Valley FC 3–1 to advance to the finals.

T Valley jumped to an early 1–0 lead following a goal by Kevin James in the ninth minute of play. However, a brace by Ozem Thomas in the 30th and 39th minutes gave CT Foundation a 2–1 advantage at the end of the first half. Following the resumption, Dwayne Louis sealed the initiative with a goal in the 70th minute as CT Foundation ran away winners 3–1.

The grand final of the competition was played on Thursday at the Marigot playing field between 1987 All Stars and CT Foundation.