Pele F.C. Success
Pele F.C. was composed of young men mainly from the Nation under-17 teams. They amazed the football public with their style of play when they took part in their first official senior competition, the 1971 FA Cup Knock Out Tournament, where they reached the final. The final was against Santos-Pele F.C. lost 0-1 to Santos F.C. Most football fans considered Pele F.C. an off-spring of Santos F.C.
In 1972, Pele F.C. placed third in the Georgetown Relegation League and was promoted to the first division. Today Pele F.C. still remains a first division team and the only team from that era to never to be relegated to second division.
In 1973, Pele F.C. began its dominance of football in Guyana winning every tournament held in the 1970's, an accomplishment no other team can claim. In 1974 the Brazilian Embassy granted three scholarships to Pele Players (Alfred Harris, David Chan and Patrick “Labba” Barton) to learn Portuguese a the Brazilian embassy in the city. Around the same time Pele F.C. was on the radar of Clemson University in the USA with Coach Dr. Ibrahim Ibrahim making the journey to Guyana to recruit players. Those who were awards scholarships to the university were founder Clyde “Farmer” Browne, Alfred Morrison, Clyde Watson, Orin Carrington, Gordon Alphonso, Orin Fanfair, Eric Smith and Wendell Manifold. Pele was not only exciting on the field but was producing rounded athletes who would go on to make themselves and their nation proud.
From 1974-1976 Pele won the league title even though they were losing players due to the exodus to universities and colleges in North America. In 1976, the club provided the Guyana National Senior team with nine players, including two goal-keepers. These players included: Lloyd Enmore, Patrick “Labba” Barton, Keith Niles, Terry Nichols, Vibert “Durdy” Butts, Gregory “PT” Stewart, Mark Britton, Denzil “Hunky Brains” Thompson (goalkeeper) along with head Coach Lennox Arthur.
Visits to far flung places was embraced by the club to assist with the development of the players. One such trip took place in 1974 when Aubrey Bishop, the President of the Guyana Amateur Football Association (GAFA) led the team to Barticato to engage in a series of matches. A sixteen member Pele team made the journey and among the players were Patrick “Labba” Barton, Keith “Wiler” Niles, Terrance “Suzuki” Nichols, Aubrey Warner and Vibert “Durdy” Butts.
Pele had the distinction of playing unbeaten in 1977 for the entire year. Wiler and Suzuki excited the fan with their skillful and crowd pleasing abilities with the ball. At the age of sixteen Patrick “Labba” Barton (1973) became the first player from the club to make the national team, doing so against the Jamaica players now know as the “Reggae Boyz.” Barton led the way at such as tender age and the Pele Football Club never looked back as they began to develop players at every level and age for the national teams.
Pele F.C. continued its success in local football during the 1980's winning all the competitions which existed in that era. They dominated Santos F.C. (their arch-rival) in the annual "Brazilian Cup" played only by the two teams in honor of the great "King" Pele. More players who contributed to carving out the PFC foundation were Gordon Alphonso, Orin Parris, Gerald Fowler, Frank Bispham, Monty Johnson, Phillip Young, Keith Cadogan, Keith Niles, Compton Luthers, Dennis Dover, Terrance Nichols, Denzil ‘Hunky Brains’ Thompson, Renison Telford, Clive Perry, Wendell Sandiford, Ivor Carrington, Rodwell Anderson, Ivor Jones, Gregory Stewart, Alfred Morrison, Linden Bollers, Ashton Arthur, Keith Layne and Lloyd Enmore.
Pele Football Club will always command a prominent place in Guyana’s football landscape having developed so many first-class, skillful and exceptional national players.
Following the exit of Coach Arthur in 1979, Peter Gulliver took up the reigns. Peter had followed the club in the early 70’s as a supporter and by 1972 was brought into the fray as part of the Medical staff.
The 1990’s also produced successful Pele F.C. teams.
The Demico League was one of the eagerly anticipated tournaments where fans from various villages and communities came out in numbers to support their respective teams. The South Georgetown based PFC which continues to train at the National Park, had a huge following from the Albouystown/Charlestown area. Fierce battles were had between Pele and their rival clubs in many tournaments including the Father Niles competition. The playing venue were also filled to capacity when Pele and Santos were in a final.
The supply of quality national players continued in this era and of note was the fact that the Under-20 side in the early 1990’s had Dirk Exiter, Gregory Padicum, Trevor Heliger, Sean Collins, Linden Layne and Leroy Bailey. Former National Captains, Ashton ‘Chucker’ Taylor and Terrence Archer were also proud products of PFC.
The club was able to capture the highly sought-after national Champion of Champions tournament which featured the top clubs from the various associations. During this period, Pele won every major knockout tournament hosted except for the elusive Kashif and Shanghai year-end tournament.
In 2005 and 2006, Pele F.C. won back-to-back President Cup triumphs along with the Nations cup in 2006. Additional tournament championships include the West Demerara Association Sweet 16 in 2004; the Mayor's Cup in 2003 and 2005, and the Fruta Conquerors 2006 tournament.
Pele F.C. also had back-to-back second place finishes in the GFA league in 2005 and 2007. In 2008, Pele F.C. won the inaugural GFA Banks Premium Beer Knock Out tournament. (extracted from "Guyana Chroncile Online").
In December, 2009 one of the crowning moments for the club was when the King himself, King Pele visited Guyana as a special guest of the Kashif and Shangha Organization for the 20th anniversary. King Pele was seventy years old at that time. Dirk Archer was the Pele Football Captain at that time following in the footsteps of his father, also a former National Captain, Terrence Archer. Other players to wear the Captain’s arm band were Monty Wilson (first captain), Wendell Manifold, Patrick Barton and Vibert ‘Durdy’ Butts.
PFC finally won the illusive Kashif and Shanghai year-end championship under the guidance of Denzil Thompson (2008/2009) defeating Camptown FC 1-0.They lost the 2010/2011 final to Alpha United (2-3) and were again on the losing end one year later - 2011/2012, this time to Trinidad and Tobago’s Caledonia AIA, 0-2.
In the 25-year history of the Kashif and Shanghai, Pele reached five finals and was successful, once.
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