The Guadalcanal Football Association (GFA) Guadalcanal Cup tournament is set to kick off on Monday 19th October, 2009.

Originally, scheduled to start tomorrow, organisers held a meeting yesterday at the SIFF Academy and decided that it should be moved to next week. This is mainly to allow more time to complete preparations especially concerning the registration of players and teams.

According to organisers, only 7 teams have expressed the interest to participate. This list includes: East Guadalcanal, North West Guadalcanal, Gaobata, Central Guadalcanal, South Guadalcanal, North East Guadalcanal and North East Central Guadalcanal.

More teams are expected to register this week where registration forms are available for collection from the Solomon Islands Football Federation office at Ranadi.

The GFA has also announced that a technical meeting will be held on Thursday 15th October, 2009 at the SIFF Academy at 12:00pm. Team and player registration will be one of the major items in the agenda. The technical meeting will also look at the Rules and Regulations for the Guadalcanal Cup and the draws for the competition fixtures. Coaches and team managers of all the teams that register are expected to attend this meeting.

The Guadalcanal Cup will be the premier football event in the GFA football calendar for this year. According to GFA President, Patrick Miniti, the aim of his administration is to revive this important tournament for Guadalcanal players to foster local football development in Guadalcanal. 'The Guadalcanal Cup will contribute to driving football development at the grassroots level,' Miniti said 'We want it to become a regular feature of the GFA calendar of events.'

Another main aim of the Guadalcanal Cup is to identify players for the Solomon Cup tournament in November. Tournament organisers also hope to use the event for exchange, reconciliation and rehabilitation of youth in Guadalcanal.

"Our aim in the future is also to organise a tournament for women and youth players," Miniti said adding that equality in football participation is an important consideration for GFA.

The Guadalcanal Football Association is appealing to business houses to support the event. "We want business houses based in Guadalcanal and also in Honiara to support this event with prizes and also to assist with the financial cost," Patrick Miniti said.

Source: SIFF Media