Ferguson: Ascension boosted Football in T&T

Terminix La Horquetta Rangers were recently crowned champions of the just concluded Ascension Football Tournament 2022. Their Managing Director Richard Ferguson is elated that his team lifted the trophy but is already looking ahead to the future.

Ferguson said, “It has been a long road, very difficult but we don’t see this as the end but the beginning. Coach Quamina, Anthony Marcano, Leslie Russell have already done analysis on the last 18 games, and they have come up with a lot of things we need to improve on.”

He further explained, “The finishing (goal scoring) is not as good as we want it to be, and the tackling is not as potent. There is a lot of work we still must do to improve; we are far from being the best we can be.”

The Ascension Football Tournament saw ten teams battling it out in 18 rounds of matches that began in March. Ferguson was instrumental in the smooth-sailing hosting of the league that was viewed throughout the Caribbean on Sportsmax. He said, “It was an excellent tournament it gave Trinidad & Tobago a boost in terms of football which is the most popular sport. It has been in a depressed area over the last decade.”  

Ferguson described the holistic benefits of the tournament as phenomenal. “This tournament has taken football to a higher level. The television has been excellent, and the crowds are coming out to the games which has never been done over the last ten years. The television has made the football very popular. People will sit-down on Friday nights and have their meals and drinks to watch the games on Sportsmax.”

Ferguson believes that the hosting of such a tournament has improved the outlook of the sport. “The platform for football in T&T has changed. We have been able to make money in football through the entertainment aspect. That money has now been used to funnel into the Ascension Caribbean Cup and hopefully that concept will continue where are teams being self-sustained.”