Dunkley Town crowned Football Under Lights champs
DUNKLEY TOWN defeated Gilnock 1-0 in the WATA/Ironade Football Under Lights final at the Braes River Community Centre in St Elizabeth on Sunday. Shadale Stone scored the all-important goal in the first half of the match. Gilnock fought back valiantly throughout the rest of the match and did put the ball into the back of the net but the goal was disallowed by the referee.
Dunkley Town collected $100,000 for the win, while Gilnock took $50,000.
Dunkley Town captain Morris Lennon thanked the team’s supporters for showing up to aid in creating a winning atmosphere.
“I have to say that everyone in St Elizabeth and the surrounding parishes knows that Dunkley Town is the champion of all these nightly six-a-side competitions held down there so coming here tonight, we know that it would be only one result and that’s a win for us.”
Lennon credited the team’s experience with playing under lights for the win, as the 50-minute game kicked off at around 11:30 p.m. He also credited the gelling of his team.
Dunkley Town won the Summer version of the competition as well, which was held in Santa Cruz at the end of August in front of a massive crowd.
The 10-week 16-team competition targets the men of the North East St Elizabeth, where competition organiser Basil Waite is a caretaker. There is an equivalent netball competition played at a different time.
Waite is pleased with how smoothly the event turned out. He said “Wisynco has come on board through their brands WATA, Powerade and Ironade and they have made all of this possible. Councillor Donovan Pagon came in and got the field prepared, (and) took care of the ground staff, our referees worked with us, the Ripple of Hope Foundation worked with us, and other sponsors came on board to make all of this possible, and we are going to make it an annual event.”
He said the aim of the competition is to foster good relations among the communities in the constituency and provide an event that the whole family can attend and enjoy.
Waite has been spearheading the competition for the past two years. It is run in two parts each year – a Summer version and a Christmas version. Middle East won last Christmas but exited at the group stage this year.