Over 800 visitors expected for Masters Football Festival

The 21st Annual Banks Barbados International Masters Football Festival (BIMFF) will welcome some 800 overseas sports tourists to our shores for what has become one of the largest sports tourism events outside of international cricket.

Some of the visitors will be in the island longer than the tournament dates which are June 2- June 5 2017, including some who will be here for almost two weeks. They are here from a host of diverse international and regional countries, including Argentina, Canada, Columbia, Peru, Qatar, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Kingdom, United States of America, Antigua, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

Festival Organising Committee Chairman Paul ‘Starsky’ Wright spoke at the launch of the festival at the Timeout Hotel in St. Lawrence Gap. He said that despite Brexit, the weakening of the British pound and Canadian dollar, international terrorism and the uncertainty caused by the new Trump administration, the popularity of the Festival continues unabated. This further reinforces the tournament’s status as “the largest sports tourism event outside of international cricket”, as quoted by the former Barbados Tourism Authority now known as the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI).

Twenty-two teams, management, support personnel along with a host of groups, families and individuals returning to join up with local and regional teams, or to simply watch the Festival will lock horns with 26 local teams, resulting in over 1 200 participants.

The tournament will be broken down into 32 over 40’s teams, and 16 over 50’s teams, competing at four venues which include Carton, Dover, Kickstart (the former Barclays Sports Ground) and Wanderers from today. The final will be played on June 5, Whit Monday at the Wanderers grounds.

The entire Masters Football fraternity remains indebted to Banks (Barbados) Breweries Limited and the BTMI who have been on board as principal sponsors since 1996, and without who there would have been no hope of meeting the expansive budget or even attempting to host a tournament of this magnitude and diversity. Scotiabank has also been an associate sponsor to the competition over the last four years.

There is no admission charge at any of the venues for the games, including the finals, so the organising committee wishes to invite all locals to ‘roll out the red carpet’ and come show our visitors some true Bajan hospitality.

They also wish that all comers would enjoy the carnival atmosphere that pervades all the festival venues over the Whitsun weekend, giving the assurance that no one will be disappointed.

The tournament can be followed on the website www.bimff.biz where all the information and history of the festival can be found, as well as the FaceBook link.꯭