The St Lucia Challengers Football Club dominated the 2009 Antigua & Barbuda Warriors Cup and captured the tournament championship with an unbeaten record.
The Warriors Cup was played at the Radio Range Football Field from August 27 to 30.
The tournament consisted of four teams and Challengers played three games. They matched up against Young Warriors in their first encounter and dismissed them by two goals to nil.
They then crushed 5P?s by four goals to nothing and kept a clean slate by defeating Goldsmitty two goals to nil to rack up a total of nine points.
Challengers walked through the competition without any real challenge since none of the Antiguan teams could hit the back of the St Lucian net.
?It was a pleasure being here once again playing in the Warriors Cup,? said Challengers team manager, Hugh Paul.
?This is our third year and also it?s our year since we won the tournament in flying colours; we definitely will be back to defend our title next year.?
?Our preparation for this tournament wasn?t the best. We are not at our best fitness condition, but we were in good enough physical shape to come to Antigua and accomplish our goals,? Paul added.
The tournament was a success although there were only four teams in the senior department. There were eight teams in the junior category, four boys and four girls.
In the U-17 boys, Antigua & Barbuda?s U-15 team won two of their matches and drew the third one to win the title.
The other teams were Young Warriors, Hoppers Gray?s Green and BVI U-15.
The U-20 girls played all exhibition games. The teams were BVI, Antigua & Barbuda Girls Squad, 5P?s Girls Team and the 108 All-Stars.
Organiser of the Warriors Cup Colin James said: ? We had a good competition. Basically what happened this season or this year might have happened by accident, but it was what we were intending to do. We don?t just want the Warriors Cup to be dedicated to the seniors; we want to involve the younger players.
?For instance, we are going to have an U-17, U-15 and U-12 in the Warriors Cup, leaving out the senior U-19 because we believe once an athlete is 17, 18 or 19, he or she should be able to play among the seniors. So these teams can start getting prepared for next year,? James said.
The Warriors Cup is usually held in the last two weeks of August and although the world is fighting an economic recession, there were about three overseas teams that made it to the tournament.
?The economic situation that is prevailing didn?t prevent the teams from coming and I want to give a big thank you to the British Virgin Islands for sending their U-15 boys and U-20 girls teams, and want the management and team Challengers to know how hearty we are for them to take part in the tournament,? James added.
The organiser would like to thank all their sponsors: Kraft, the international food brand, and Bargain Centre, the local agent who will be the crown sponsors for the 2009-2010 Warriors Cup Championships.
Also they are grateful to the Antigua & Barbuda Brewery, GCS Bottling, Inn La Galleria, management and staff of Jolly Harbour, all the bus drivers, managers of the Radio Range football field, Supreme Security, the referees, Shirley?s Kitchen and Champ & Champs Restaurant.
The association will kick off their Preseason Cup this weekend at the same venue starting at 5 pm with an admission fee of EC $5.
The teams taking part in the tournament are Premier Division?s Hoppers, Young Warriors, English Harbour and Goldsmitty, and they will be playing two games nightly.
