The Manchester Premier League

by Kareem Manning

The Premier League has officially become a two horse race after last weekend's enticing match ups which saw both Manchester City and Man United leave their opponents trailing and choking on their dust.

Balotelli scores at the death with a coolly taken penalty kick

This weekend pitted the best of London vs the greats of Manchester, with Manchester City gearing up against the in form Spurs, while the defending champions Manchester United took a trip down to London to face a rather off coloured Arsenal.  Going into the weekend it seemed to be an intriguing match up with favourable results that could have potentially caused a crucial mix-up in the title race. Contrary to the false consensus that was upheld by the majority, where critics and reports were counting on an upset, the Premier League title race continued to roll on as it has from the inception of this season as the Red Devils and City dispatched their London counterparts in stylish fashion.

City conjured up the win in injury time, throwing salt into fresh wounds of what was a very spirited Spurs side.  Looking at the positives, if Spurs can keep this more-than-capable side together with the addition of one or two investments they will definitely be considered a true heavy weight and would unarguably be able to match their rivals in Manchester City. With the citizens missing their two most influential defensive minded players in Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany, I wasn’t too surprised with the eventual fight back from 2-0 down, but credit to both Redknapp, who instilled a burning hunger and fiery drive in his lads, who are now easily one of the most exciting teams in the league when on the attack. Man City however showed us that they indeed, were the team with the predatorial killer instinct, with a fantastic late win which only adds to their unbeaten home record, a crucial bonus for teams competing for the coveted title.

United's Rafael lunges in on an incisive run by Chamberlain

An extremely depleted Man United side expertly neutralised a sorry Arsenal with an important away win as they cruised to victory at the Emirates Stadium with a 2-1 scoreline. The final score did no justice to United’s performance as they created chance after chance and totally dominated Arsenal for 80% of the game, bossing possession and limiting Arsenal to half chances. At times many may have thought Arsenal was giving up as their performance showed. The killer instinct that I mentioned earlier - that core characteristic of what transforms a team from being just a team, to being champions is what the Gunners lack.  One must have the mentality of being a champion if one will ever be, and judging from the substitution made by Arsene Wenger, who swapped Arsenal's best attacking performer on the night, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the champion mentality is oblivious and the trophies will remain further out of reach unless this is mentality is altered. Wenger, belief is key.

United's win certified that the title race will continue to be battled out in the north of England as they collected three vital points that kept them within range of Manchester City. One thing going against United though, is the amount of injuries, as players crawled to the finish, giving Sir Alex Ferguson a massive headache for the huge fixture list in the coming weeks.

To be successful in this extremely competitive League, one quality is needed as games will be drawn and lost.  It is the ability to bounce back from unwanted results.  The ability to return to your best after you've been cut short is crucial to help get the team back on track, as teams like Arsenal and Chelsea show, who continue to string too many losses and draws, making them inconsistent and bereft of that champion mentality I keep mentioning. The two at the top of the tree in City and United, have proved that there are easily the two most consistent teams and are by far the strongest in the league in terms of the collection of players at their disposal and even management. It will be very difficult to predict this league finish as we can never count out Sir Alex and United but for now it is advantage to City in the MANCHESTER PREMIER LEAGUE.

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Turf Warz review

The wait is finally over after what has been a hectic week for us at RYGO, however our journalist Kareem Manning was able to give a run down on the happenings at the tournament.  Look out for the complete video highlights later this week.

The Champions

The recent concluded Turf Warz that was held by the Wildey Gymnasium Astro Turf on January 7^th 2012. Overall, it can be seen as a success,  especially for the highly reputable Pounarkers of Pounark! FC.  who concluded the tournament by swooping home the title and booze of the inaugural event.

The tournament was one that I would consider to be rather innovative as the combination of nice vibes and entertaining footy gave life to the same very feeling that it was meant to be.  Organisers Justin King and Joshua Bynoe wanted Turf Warz to be fresh and they pulled it off. 

This fun spirited tournament hosted eight teams with two groups battling out before the round robin stage of the tournament.  It was a diverse selection of names with an even more diverse range of colours as shown by our rose pink partners Itchy Crabs.  Turf Warz also hosted a wide range of talent, as players as far as Sweden were on park to display some quality plays, another bunch who are currently abroad competing in tougher environments were also on form, as they are granted greater exposure to a loftier standard of football; and the remainder were the product of Bim – I must admit that there were some well seasoned homegrown players that  only goes to prove that Barbadian football is finally on the rise.

Below are the teams with their respective logo.

Local players on show

The tournament gave a great opportunity to local players to boast their talent to onlookers.  With the turf being a fast paced environment, plenty skill and touch was on show to please the crowd that came to support their respective friends on the different teams. 

Overall, I left the event pleased with the level of football on show – some blistering shots and sexy passes, shake and bakes, step-overs and feints… to be honest I didn’t even know some of the shit I saw done was possible until players were left twisting their own ankles after some dribbles that were display.

You see, I am a rather stern critic of football here in Barbados where it is rather unfortunate that some of our players usually have limited discipline along with a lack of development in the mental aspect of the game. 

Despite us being a long way away from being able to war it out with other international regions which have soared and set standards in football, Turf Warz offered us a glance at raw Barbadian talent along with the mixture of those who have experienced the game abroad and it looks like exciting times for football in the island.  

Special Praise

Darian King on the ball

From Pounark! F.C, special praise must be heaped on Darian King, a phenomenal all round athlete who actually majors in tennis and minors in football, but looked as though he could easily set the international football stage alight. He was comfortable on the ball, with more touches than Quagmire could muster in the same second and possessed endless ability to skate past his opponent time and again – he shows us how beautiful the game can be, kudos to him.

From runners up Ginga, there must be special praise for Romel Forde who plies his trade overseas at Long Island University in North America.  He displayed great ability in passing and holding up play if needed.

Also, mention must go out to Luke St. John for having the heart of a Spartan.  Through his brave efforts he played the entire tournament under injury watch as he recovers from a recent surgery on his ACL. Luke led his team with good spirits and plenty energy all the way to the finals.  

Extended mention to Robert Jardine who was a bright spark when he arrived on his team despite being a bit late, he still scored some goals worthy of highlights.  Justin Deckle reminded me of Kaka, locks, shocks and some silky play.  Goalkeeper Dillon Clarke produced some fine saves that proved important for keeping his team out of trouble. 

Tito, Spicey and Sandiford gave us a glimpse at unarguably some of the finest youth Bim rock has produced, they all looked like the real deal. Visitors from Sweden [we do not know their names, if anyone does please contact us] were sheer quality. I’ll never forget the long range stunner that guy over there scored, it was like if all Swedes were fed Ibrahimovic  juice for breakfast.  

Daniel Rowe also led his team with solid judgment, fine passing and accurate shooting throughout the tournament, brothers Justin and Tyler Browne had an unfortunate tournament, but still shone bright for their teams and were a real influence to watch.  Young German Jamal Mönnig who flew all the way from his beer drinking homeland just to be a part of Turf Warz, put in a top defensive duty.  

Turf Warz was a step forward for football in Barbados and will help promote players working on control and their skill to put on show at future tournaments. It also allows local players to invite their foreign friends to take part to allow a diverse tournament of players of different styles and abilities. The tournament is definitely on RYGO’s radar and we hope to continue the partnership for any future events and provide excellent coverage to all. 


Special thanks to everyone who helped theRYGOteam out. Definitely could not have pulled it off without you guys.
B3 Imaging: Printed our RYGO shirts..be sure to check them out!
The Camera Crew: Kareem Manning, Zoe Allamby, Zachary Allamby, Ryan Wilfred, Jarrad Bryan.
Video Editor: Zachary Allamby

Big Thanks to Shane Griffith as well. He was always on the move making sure the cameras were in place and everything else was running smooth!

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TURF WARZ - A new kind of footy tournament

Season's Greetings and a happy new year from the RYGO Team. We know things been slow but we’ve been hella busy after being entangled in the Christmas festivities and tending to other obligations, we had a good one, hope you guys did too!

Let’s get right down to business shall we?  Apart from this tumultuous weekend of football, next weekend will be bringing something glorious to Barbados!  It looks like we'll all be starting 2012 on the right foot (yes, pun intended) thanks to a fresh upcoming event called TURF WARZ. It's been something of a trend that has been starting amongst various groups of friends and organisations in the island, a football tournament - and that goes to show the great strides Barbados has made in developing the sport over the years.  

But it stops right there. Where TURF WARZ differs from previous tournaments is in its complete event overlay.  Based on the concept of having an exciting and successful day of football, the addition of the event being mooted as both a footy tournament and a rave is something of an innovative and ambitious step forward.  It slowly allows the island to become more saturated in the game of football and the ecstasy of a rave.

• TURF WARZ at the Gymnasium Hockey Turf January 7^th 2012, 3 P.M  - 12 A.M

Now this is going to be one ROCKING event.  TURF WARZ is brought to you by Justin King and Joshua Bynoe and is in association with RYGO.  These two Baje boys, of whom we at RYGO have known for quite sometime, had the vision and ambition in making this happen.  Clearly they've been attentive to our wants, and so they are bringing the three things we love most under one umbrella of pure happiness.. football, drinks and music.

Event Overlay - 

TURF WARZ will be featuring an all day football tournament (teams are invitation only due to the size, sorry for any complications caused).  There will also be FIFA 12 PLAYOFF all day long -  Come put your money where your mouth is and your fingers where your boots are in a classic 1 v 1 FIFA 12 dual.  

Finally accompanying the adrenaline pumping football, there will obviously be a FULLY STOCKED BAR along with Barbados’ favourite ravin’ Dj’s: Jus Jay, Karpologist, K. Smith and DJ Surge who will be keeping the place in full HYPE.

Football - Drinks - Rave - Girls what more can we ask for ?

Admission: $5 Ladies
                   $10 Fellas 

RYGO will be covering the entire event, bringing you the best video highlights and all the pictures of what TURF WARZ is all about. We will be looking out for a good crowd and some good Bajan footy on the 7th, January, be there! 

P.S Look out for the highly anticipated DRUNK MATCH!  

(visit the TURF WARZ Facebook event page to rsvp http://www.facebook.com/events/135881926525228/)

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