标签： Barbados

Fresh off the conclusion of the 2024 edition of the Barbados Invitational Masters Football Classic (BIMFC) — the largest over-age football festival in the Caribbean — the event’s organizing committee vice-chairman Trevor Thorne is renewing his call for increased public and private financial backing, warning that a lack of investment could see the popular tournament poached by neighboring islands with far stronger government support.

In an exclusive interview with local outlet Barbados TODAY, Thorne explained that the BIMFC, which pioneered the regional masters football movement, now faces growing competitive pressure from copycat events launching across Caribbean islands. Many of these rival tournaments benefit from substantial state funding that the BIMFC has yet to secure, putting the long-standing Barbadian event at a critical disadvantage.

“If we continue to lag behind in securing this kind of support, there is a real risk that the BIMFC concept could be exported elsewhere, where it will grow into an even stronger event with the resources available to it,” Thorne warned. He added that losing the tournament would deal a significant blow to Barbados’ already tourism-dependent national economy, noting that the BIMFC generates consistent off-season economic activity by drawing hundreds of visiting players and their accompanying travel parties every year.

Thorne pointed to the UK-based Cockney Rebels, one of the event’s most loyal participating teams, as a clear example of the tournament’s economic ripple effect. This year alone, the club expanded its presence from one 30-player squad to two squads totaling almost 70 athletes. During their stay in Barbados, visiting players rent vehicles, book accommodation at local hotels and guesthouses, pay for inter-match transportation, dine at local restaurants, purchase groceries, and spend money on locally made souvenirs — all revenue that stays in the Barbadian community.

“As organizers, we have long punched above our weight to keep this event running and growing, but more support would translate directly to greater benefits for Barbados’ tourism, our local masters football community, and the national economy as a whole,” Thorne said.

Beyond funding, Thorne also revealed that organizers are actively exploring venue changes for the 2025 tournament to address player feedback around playing surface quality. This year, unseasonable drought left several natural grass fields in poor condition, forcing organizers to shift some matches to alternate surfaces. Thorne noted that trial matches held at the Usain Bolt Complex were well received, and organizers are even considering a bold proposal to host matches at Kensington Oval, widely considered the mecca of Barbadian sport.

“Interest for next year’s tournament is already building, with many players saying they are eager to return, but they have asked for improved playing surfaces as a reasonable condition,” Thorne explained. “We’ve already identified a shortlist of potential new venues, and if we can work out a proposal to bring matches to Kensington Oval, I have no doubt players would be absolutely delighted.”

This year’s tournament featured newly added age divisions, including a 60-and-Over category, where The Old Boys’ Club claimed the inaugural title, finishing ahead of runners-up Black Rock Masters, third-place Cockney Rebels, and fourth-place Blue Cloud. In the other new division, 55-and-Over, Adrian “AD” Best led Paradise to a dominant 3-0 victory over Zepherins Pinelands to take the gold.

In the tournament’s most coveted division, the Over-50s category, UK-based Cockney Rebels secured the title after a tense final against Royalty Ballers, with Rob Margrave scoring the match-winning penalty to clinch the win. The final match of the tournament saw goalkeeper Dwayne Webb deliver a Man-of-the-Match performance, stopping two crucial shots to lead Carib Wildey Masters to victory over second-place Empire Club.

Organizers also used the post-tournament press briefing to offer their sincere condolences following the unexpected passing of 59-year-old Audley Taffe, a visiting player from Canada’s Global Masters Football team, who collapsed suddenly at the Kickstart Playing Field in Wildey on the tournament’s second Saturday.

On a tense Sunday afternoon at the Wildey Technical Centre, a moment of late magic secured another historic milestone for Barbados football. Armando Lashley, the top goal scorer in the history of the Barbados Football Association (BFA) Premier League, slotted home the only goal of the match deep into extra time against Kickstart Rush, handing Weymouth Wales their fifth consecutive league championship.

The winning goal came from a late corner kick, with Lashley turning the opportunity into a clinical finish that sealed victory in the game’s dying seconds. This result extends Weymouth Wales’ incredible recent run, marking their fifth win from their last six outings. With just one round of regular season matches still left to play, the club now sits on an unassailable 40 points, ensuring no competitor can catch them at the top of the table.

The day’s action kicked off with a tight contest between 2023 runners-up Brittons Hill United and title contenders Paradise. A 57th-minute strike from Shaquille Boyce earned Brittons Hill a hard-fought 1-0 win, which pushed them up into second place in the standings on 35 points. Paradise, who led the title race for much of the 2024 campaign, dropped two places to fourth following the loss, finishing the penultimate round level on 33 points with third-placed Kickstart Rush. Kickstart Rush holds the higher position courtesy of a one-goal advantage in overall goal difference (38 to Paradise’s 37).

For Weymouth Wales, this championship is one of the most hard-earned titles in the club’s recent history. Based in Carrington Village, the side overcame significant obstacles this season, including a rash of injuries to key first-team players and the departure of national team captain Andre Applewaithe, who left to sign a professional contract overseas. Remarkably, even without Applewaithe and despite having no players ranked in the league’s top 10 goal scorers, Weymouth Wales still outperformed every challenger to claim the crown.

Now that they have secured the league title, Weymouth Wales will turn their attention to defending the two other major BFA trophies they currently hold: the Champions Cup and the Prime Minister’s Cup. The club will be targeting a clean sweep of domestic honours to cap off their historic season.

Speaking after his side’s win over Paradise, Brittons Hill coach Richard Forde reflected on what could have been for his own team’s title challenge. “As I said from the beginning we were really pushing for the title this season, but I think we really threw away our chances when we drew the games against Bagatelle and Gall Hill,” Forde explained. “I always look back and say those games would have given us an outside chance to win the title, but I still think the boys did well.”

Forde noted that his side’s late-season improvement came after he implemented strict changes to the team’s training regime, changes that were not popular at first. “They didn’t like it, a lot of people did not like it, but you know if we want to come and compete you have to come and train. You know sometimes we played well and then on some occasions we were awful in games. I believe if we can measure how we play and approach each game, then I think that we could go one step further,” he added.

The coach also praised match-winner Boyce, who seized his starting opportunity after limited game time throughout the season. “He’s been training all the time, and you know sometimes when you look at our front three it has been hard sometimes for him to get into the team. Tonight was his opportunity and he didn’t disappoint. I was happy with that,” Forde said.

Heading into the final round of matches, the race for the league’s Golden Boot award remains tightly contested. Kirtney Franklyn, a St Vincent and the Grenadines international with Brittons Hill United, currently leads the race with 18 goals. Ellerton captain Shakille Belle sits in second place on 15 goals, while Sheran Hoyte and Kamol Griffith of Paradise, plus Torian Joseph of Bagatelle, are all tied for third on 13 goals.

Barbados Rugby Football Union has named a 20-player men’s XV national squad for a packed three-week slate of three international fixtures, with veteran Enrique Oxley selected to skipper the side through the challenging stretch of matches. The roster strikes a deliberate balance between emerging young talent and seasoned campaigners, with the full lineup including Antonio Gibbons, John Shane Howard, Nicholas Daniel, Daniel Ramsey, Aiden Foley, Rajiv Grant, Stephen Millar, Jeremy Nelson, Jermaine Bynoe, Chad Clarke, Cadeem Knight, Noah Paskins, Sean Ward, Taurean Marshall, Dario Stoute, Chris Blades, Malique Broomes, Kiovani Hamilton and Zarico Bellamy.

The run of matches kicks off on May 30, when Barbados travels to Kingstown to face hosts St. Vincent in the opening contest. The team will then return home to host Guyana on June 6, before closing out the trio of fixtures with an away match against the Cayman Islands on June 13. This sequence of matches positions the final two contests as key Rugby Americas North (RAN) Test matches, giving the side critical competitive context for preparation.

Head coach Joe Whipple highlighted the strategic value of the expanded fixture list, emphasizing that each game serves a clear developmental purpose for the program. “This additional fixture in St. Vincent comes at a very important time for the squad,” Whipple explained. “It provides another opportunity for players to gain valuable match exposure and for the coaching group to continue building combinations ahead of two important RAN Test Matches in June.”

The Barbados side enters this stretch of play riding high on a historic breakthrough from the 2023 campaign. Last year, the national team secured a dominant 45-5 victory over Guyana at Garrison Savannah, marking their first win over the Guyanese side, nicknamed the Green Machine, in almost 20 years. That landmark result has injected new momentum into the program, and the current squad is focused on carrying that positive form into this demanding run of international competition, with an eye toward building cohesion for future regional campaigns.

After a thrilling day of high-speed rally action on the 4.1-kilometer Mapps to Stewarts Hill stage in Barbados’ St. Philip parish, British driver Joe Cunningham and his co-driver Kari Bates have claimed top honors at the 2025 First Citizens King of the Hill, breaking a 11-year drought for British competitors at the prestigious pre-Rally Barbados seeding event.

Cunningham’s victory marks the first win for a British driver at King of the Hill since Paul Bird took the top spot in 2014, while Bates made history of her own as only the second female co-driver ever to claim a win at the event, following in the footsteps of Kirsty Riddick, who won alongside Bird back in 2012. Speaking to reporters immediately after the final time check, Cunningham shared that the result far outstripped his pre-event goals. “I never actually expected to stand on the top step of the podium here – I was just targeting a top 10 finish going into the day,” he explained. “The route worked perfectly for our car, and we pushed as hard as we possibly could. This is Kari’s first event with me, but everything clicked straight away, and we couldn’t be happier with how it went.”

Now, Cunningham and Bates turn their attention to the main event: BCIC Rally Barbados. The driver acknowledged that repeating his King of the Hill success will be a far greater test, noting the key differences between the seeding event and the main rally. “King of the Hill sees you run the same short stage four times, but Rally Barbados is a completely different beast – local drivers know every twist and turn of the stages far better than I do,” he said. “There’s no extra pressure on me, though. I’m just going to go out there, enjoy every minute, and I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”

Barbadian fan favorite Dane Skeete crossed the line second, just 1.06 seconds behind Cunningham, matching his second-place finish from 2024. Skeete admitted that he had hoped to take the win, but noted that starting first on the road always brings extra challenges, and he is already gearing up to fight for the overall Rally Barbados title this weekend. “Once all my car’s systems hold up, there’s no reason I can’t challenge for the top spot,” Skeete said. “I just need to get through the opening super special stage at Bushy Park safely, then I’ll start pushing for the win on Saturday.”

Third place went to 2024 King of the Hill champions Stuart Maloney and Kristian Yearwood, who finished 2.27 seconds off the winning time. Maloney said the result exceeded his own expectations, as he is still working to rebuild his confidence after past incidents on high-speed stages. The early part of Sunday’s event brought a scary reminder of the risks of rally racing: last year’s overall Rally Barbados winners Kyle Gregg and Kreigg Yearwood crashed heavily at the Three Houses section of the stage. Fortunately, both competitors walked away from the incident without injury, though their car suffered extensive damage that rules them out of the main rally this weekend. Learning of Gregg’s crash actually helped Maloney refocus, he explained: “Hearing about Kyle’s incident was not nice, but going in with no real expectations for a high result let me just focus on driving clean and keeping the car on the road. My rally starts on Saturday, and I know I have the pace to fight for the win.”

In the two-wheel drive category, Barbadian duo Suleman Esuf and Asif Suleman claimed their first ever category win in their BMW 1M, finishing sixth overall with a time just 2.98 seconds behind the leader. Esuf said the result matched exactly what the team had targeted heading into the event. “The car felt solid during testing, so I came in with a lot of confidence that we had the pace to pull this off,” he explained. “Everything came together perfectly on the day. Now, as the first two-wheel-drive car starting on the road for Rally Barbados, our focus is on staying smart, keeping consistent, and maintaining our momentum through the weekend.”

One of the biggest crowd favorites of the day was not eligible for overall honors, but still drew massive attention: the Open R/GT class Porsche 992 Rally GT driven by former FIA Rookie of the Year Zane Maloney and co-driver Luke Staffner. Thousands of spectators lined the stage, with large crowds gathering at the end of the 900-meter Thicket straight – the fastest section of the course – to catch a glimpse of the car, and many fans waited after the run to snap selfies with the spectacular vehicle. Despite the early morning heavy showers that hit the region, fans turned out in droves to watch the action, filling every vantage point along the stage route.

The full top 10 results for the 2025 First Citizens King of the Hill are as follows: fourth place went to Great Britain’s Rob Swann and Tom Woodburn, while fifth was taken by Adam Mallalieu of Great Britain and Peredur Davies of Wales. Seventh place went to Jamaica’s Jeffrey Panton and Wales’ Matt Edwards, eighth to Barbados’ Barry Mayers and Moishe Steinbok, ninth to Barbados’ Josh Read and Mark Jordan, and tenth rounded out the top 10 by Barbados’ Mark Maloney and Justin Maloney.

The first-ever edition of the controversial Enhanced Games wrapped its opening track and field session Sunday night in Las Vegas, with two-time Barbadian Olympian Tristan Evelyn securing top honors in the women’s 100-meter sprint and walking away with a $250,000 cash prize. The 28-year-old veteran sprinter crossed the finish line with a time of 11.25 seconds, outpacing the rest of the competitive field to claim the historic win at the unconventional sporting event. What makes Evelyn’s victory particularly notable is that multiple credible industry reports confirm she competed as an unenhanced athlete, meaning she did not leverage the performance-enhancing substances or technologies that the event explicitly allows participants to use. Since it was first announced, the Enhanced Games has drawn global scrutiny and widespread media attention for its unprecedented approach to performance enhancement in competitive sport, breaking with longstanding international anti-doping regulations that govern most major professional and Olympic athletic events. The inaugural gathering has sparked fresh debate across the global sports community about the future of competitive integrity, drug testing, and what counts as a fair advantage in elite athletics.