Sports National SWA Sharks wing out for CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield

TCI’s dominant club team, the SWA Sharks FC left Providenciales this week to attend their second consecutive CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield.

The international tournament, for all small nation Caribbean islands league champions, is being held in St Kitts and Nevis and according to the Sharks’ manager, Chris Bryan, the team is “fired up” and ready for the upcoming battles.

“The team is stronger than ever and are fired up and ready to give it everything they have”. Bryan is confident they will improve on their performance of last year with a good chance of making it to the finals of the competition.

The Sharks’ progression has been nothing short of extraordinary.

The Turks and Caicos Island’s longest running club had its first appearance in a five-a-side competition in 1996 held at Club Med (at the time the only grass field in Providenciales).

The club was officially established as a TCIFA team in 1998 and has participated in every “Provo Premier League” (PPL) season since. Fast forward to 2019, under the guidance of former TCIFA president Bryan as manager,

Realest FC ahead in Scott’s Car Rental and Sales Masters League

REALEST FC surged to a 7-2 win in the latest clash of the Scott’s Car Rental and Sales Over-35 Masters League, which was played last Saturday in Providenciales.

Barrington Somers netted a hat trick in the clash to lead the attack. He scored in the 3rd, 11th and 32nd minutes, while Diego Alvert added a brace (18th and 27th minutes).

Fritz Gerald Norvius and Ganel Joseph scored the others.

Beaches were led by Damion Dunkley who scored in the 38th and 40th minutes.

Realest are the front runners for the title and have now accumulated 15 points from six games.

Their main rivals will be Police, who also stamped their authority, with a commanding 12-0 win when they battled against Teachers, also on Saturday last. the Sharks became consistent winners and have since won every subsequent league championship.

In that clash, Kevern De Bellot struck five goals (2nd, 4th, 39th, 40th and 42nd), while Christopher O’Neil added four (6th, 15th, 22nd and 50th).

Kemoy Piper (34th and 35th) and Omar Edwards (33rd) also scored for the winners.

Realest are on 15 points from five wins in six games, with Police in second on 12 points from four wins in six games.

Beaches are third on nine points from three wins, with Teachers FC in fourth.

After winning the 2021-22 PPL season, the Sharks became the first TCI club team to be invited to an international tournament; the CONCACAF Caribbean Shield, held in Puerto Rico.

Here, the club received plaudits for their structured possessionbased football and resilient displays against semi-professional teams from all over the Caribbean. They represented the TCI well, their efforts culminating in two narrow 1-0 defeats against the champions of

Guadeloupe and Curacao and a 3-1 win against Real Rincon of Bonaire.

In the coming days, they will again push to make a statement. Their first group game is set for Friday, August 4th against SV Dakota (Champions of Aruba), while on Sunday, August 6th, they play Club Sando (Trinidad and Tobago) and Solidarite Scolarie (Guadeloupe) on Tuesday, August 8th.

If they win the group, they will advance to the semifinals.

According to Bryan, “Taking our 22-strong contingent to St Kitts for the week-long competition is a significantly expensive endeavour and we want to thank SWA Architects for standing by and supporting us throughout as well as Carlisle Supplies for additional significant financial support making this trip a reality, our team will not disappoint!”

The CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield is a small nations gateway competition ultimately leading to the CONCACAF Champions Cup which involves professional teams from all other countries of the Federation including such international football powerhouses as Canada, USA, Mexico and Costa Rica.