By Carlena Knight
As final preparations get underway for the third annual Anderson E Carty Grays Green Community Football league, the championship trophy will be renamed in honour of one former player who tragically passed away earlier this month.
Judah Bowers, a 22-year-old former Empire player and Greenbay resident, lost his life in an apparent electrocution accident at his home and the sponsor of the tournament, one in which Bowers competed in yearly, made the decision to honour him.
“I spoke to the family and I advised them that we are going to be renaming the championship trophy the Judah Manuel Bowers Championship Trophy for this Grays Green Community League going forward as long as I remain the sponsor,” Anderson Carty revealed while speaking on the Good Morning JoJo sports show.
“We will always remember him. He has been a participant for the past two years of the league, a very promising goalkeeper and I think he won an award one of the years for best goalkeeper, and so he will be missed but he will be remembered by that trophy being named in his honour,” he added.
Games will take place starting July 2 at the Greenbay football field.
The league will kick off with an opening ceremony at the Gray’s Farm basketball court and then a march pass will be held to Perth.
The competition is slated to end on July 23.
One of the organisers of the competition, Micah Samuel, gave some details on the format of the tournament.
“We are going to put teams in zones and the top four in each zone will go through. We are looking at playing Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays for two matches and three on the Saturday. We are also looking at including Sunday as well where we would play three matches,” Samuel explained.
The winners will win $2,000 and a trophy, and second prize will be $1,500.
The Most Valuable Goalkeeper will win $200, Most Valuable Defender $250, Most Goals $250, MVP of the tournament $250 and football boots, coach of the tournament $150, manager of the tournament $150, and Most Disciplined Team will get three footballs.
The competition is not restricted to teams from the Grays Green area but all community teams from the neighbouring villages are also welcome to register.
Registration is $250 and ends on June 29.
Teams are allowed to register up to 15 players and for any additional players a $20 charge will be added.
Interested persons can call 780-9370 or 720-9940 to register.