Geest Line took the opportunity to support the Saint Lucia National Football Association (SLFA) U17 Football team by way of supplying a full new team kit, the team qualified earlier in the year to the CONCACAF U17 World Cup Qualification Tournament in Honduras.

SLFA qualifying for this tournament was an amazing success, it is the best result the National Football Team has ever achieved in International Competition. Particularly bearing in mind that Saint Lucia has a population of 170,000 and were the smallest team in the tournament, competing against teams like the USA with a population of 300 million, Mexico with 160 million and Canada with 35 million! The second smallest team was Trinidad & Tobago with a population of 1.2 million. SLFA were drawn in a very tough group that included the eventual final winners, Mexico, who beat tournament hosts, Honduras 0-3 in the final. The FIFA U17 World Cup Final will be held in Chile during Oct/Nov 2015 with 24 teams competing for the coveted title, including England, France, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Syria (Syria’s inclusion is no mean feat given their issues).

The resources of the SLFA and Saint Lucia on the whole are somewhat limited, especially when compared to most of the teams they competed against in Honduras. The SLFA is always on the lookout for assistance from the business community and kind individuals to help with preparing teams for competition and generally running football in the County. “We are extremely grateful to Geest Line for their kind donation”.

Geest Line are represented in Saint Lucia by the M&C group through Admiral Shipping. Geest Line is a part of the region in several ways, and for many years the company has been an important part of the economy of Saint Lucia, as the main shipping conduit for the Windward Islands to/from the UK, as well as the key carrier of goods and services from the Europe to other Caribbean Islands.

Here we see the team strip being formally handed over (L to R) Capt. Peter Dixon (MD Geest Line), Vince Noyce (Port Operations Manager Geest Line) & Cyril (Ces) Podd (Technical Director of Football at SLFA).

Ces, himself holds over 500 matches under his belt, as a previous league player in the UK..