Extensive League to test fortitude of clubs

Feb 23, 2012 Sports

– says GABA President

By Edison Jefford
President of the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA), David Carto has stated that the

David Carto

extensive League, which got underway last weekend on the Burnham Basketball Court, will sincerely test the fortitude of the participating clubs.
The League is the first major undertaking of the new President, who came to office exactly one year ago and is certainly a historic event, spanning some four months with 100-plus games to be played. Carto relayed his early impressions of the League.
“I am glad that the League has started so that it can try to restore some vibrancy and get players active. I can’t remember when last we had a League for four months, but I think that it is the only way we can accurately seed the teams if we have them play first-round round-robin,” Carto told Kaieteur Sport in a brief interview yesterday.
The League features Ravens, Pacesetters, Knights, Macabees, Pepsi Sonics, the Guyana Defence Force, Panthers, Eagles, Nets, Patriots, Plaisance Guardians and Bounty Colts. It also features an invasion of three new teams, including the impressive, Westside Jammers.
The GABA President was of the view that the structure and format of the tournament provides an interesting opportunity for teams to improve. Carto said that he believes that the occasion will be mutually beneficial for the association and competing clubs.
“I know there will be lots of positives coming out of this League; it will provide adequate court-time for the teams after a long layoff, which will help them improve and as a result, I know there will be tighter competition because teams will get better,” he noted.
Apart from an improvement in the competitive nature of clubs, Carto believes that it will also test the administrative ability of the association and that of the Guyana Basketball Officials’ Council (GBOC), which has been assigned technical responsibility of the mammoth event. In addition, he thinks that it is also a good way of restoring the sport’s fan-base in Georgetown with the teams bringing out their support base regularly.
The GABA has decided to move forward with the League even though they have not yet tied up all the ends in the sponsorship arrangement. The move was aimed at refusing to allow the contest to be held at ransom at the expense of organised basketball in the city.
“I have commitments but nothing is finalised as yet because everyone is busy with Mashramani,” Carto said when asked about sponsorship for the event. He had stated previously that three major companies are currently engaging the Georgetown sub-association.