Dominica Grammar School lift Dominica's first Footy Fest tourney

Dominica Grammar School emerged as the victors of the inaugural Footy Fest seven-a-side football tournament at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium in Dominica on Saturday.

Footy Fest, founded by former Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) player Chester Pierre, hosted its sixth Footy Fest tournament in TT on January 6, with the tournament being hosted in Dominica for the first time over the weekend as Footy Fest looks to expand their reach to other Caribbean territories.

The six-team tournament was dominated by Dominica State College (yellow) throughout the round-robin phase, as they went unbeaten in the preliminary round of the competition to book a spot in the final. The boys from Dominica Grammar School had different ideas, though, as they got past Castle Bruce Secondary in the semi-final, before getting a hard-fought 2-1 win over Dominica State College (yellow) in the final.

Pierre said the goal is to take the Footy Fest tournament to other Caribbean islands, and plans are already afoot to host a Footy Fest tournament in Barbados in April.

Cash prizes were not on offer to teams in the inaugural Footy Fest tournament in Dominica, but Pierre said he and his team are always working to improve the standard of their product in TT and the wider region.

"We plan to make much bigger improvements as we go forward with the Footy Fest tournament and we aim to get more sponsorship for 2025 as well," Pierre told Newsday.

Pierre said the Ministry of Culture, Youth, Sports and Community Development in Dominica was instrumental in getting Dominica's Footy Fest off the ground, through the efforts of Sport coordinator Trevor Shillingford and Dominica's former senior football team coach, Don Leogal. National Cooperative Credit Union and Digicel Dominica were also thanked for their roles in executing the one-day tournament.

The three teams eliminated at the preliminary phase of Dominica's Footy Fest were Dominica State College (green), Isaiah Thomas Secondary School and North Eastern Comprehensive School.

Fatima College, 2023 SSFL premier division champions, won TT's Footy Fest competition on January 6.