The First Division champions, A&R Plumbing & Electrical Celtics, will travel to the neighbouring island of Montserrat on Friday where, as part of that country’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations, the Antiguans will face-off against the Montserrat champs, Conscious Vibes in a friendly encounter slated for Saturday.
Celtics were afforded the opportunity to travel to the Emerald Isle after Premier Division champions LIME Old Road informed Antigua & Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) they would not be able to make the weekend trip.
Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for Sports in Montserrat, Jermaine Wade, said they are expecting that quite a few Antiguan fans and supporters will turn out to support the venture.
“There are going to be playing against the local champions here in Montserrat, coming out of the MSA football league which is the Conscious Vibes football squad this coming Saturday and it so happens that the match is going to be on St Patrick’s Day, and my understanding is that they should be bringing a lot of fans and supporters as well,” he said.
Celtics FC President Devon “Centauri” Jarvis said his players are looking forward to the trip as it affords them the opportunity to play ambassadorial roles for their country.
“Our expectation basically is to go down, show what we have to highlight and basically as we leave Antigua we are looking forward to being ambassadors to represent our country rather than even the Celtics Club; and so we want to go down there and make a shine,” Jarvis said.
“It also gives us an avenue whereby we can make contacts with the Montserrat Football Association and have a relationship that in the future we can even invite them to Antigua so we can do something there.”
An 18-member contingent, inclusive of 15 players and three officials, will leave on Friday afternoon for Montserrat. The group is expected to return between Sunday and Monday.
The initiative forms part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the governments of the two islands. This initiative will see teams move between the two territories on a regular basis.
