Anguilla’s Rainbow Warriors arrived in Bad Neustadt, Germany on Monday 29th May amidst the pomp and circumstance reserved for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ participating countries. The Anguillian delegation was greeted by television and media crews; hoards of people waving the Anguilla flag and a 2.3 km long red carpet that was rolled out around the entire city for the Anguillians to walk on. As a result of this red carpet, the Guinness Book of World Records has cited Bad Neustadt as being the city with the longest rolled red carpet in the world.

Officials and players of the Anguilla Football Association on their way to Germany

At the official welcome reception hosted by the Mayor and City Parliamentarians on Tuesday 30th May, the City Tourism Manager, Mr. Bernhard Mosandl confirmed, “our record breaking red carpet and our place in the Guinness Book of World Records is all because of the Anguilla National Football Team.” In recognition of Anguilla’s 39th Anguilla Day Celebrations, the Mayor of Bad Neustadt and the dignitaries made a toast to the island Anguilla and Anguillians in recognition of the island’s accomplishments. In his response, Mr. Raymond Guishard, President of the AFA used the occasion to express how the sacrifice of being away from Anguilla during Anguilla was indicative of the National Football Team’s commitment to making the very best of the opportunity.
On Wednesday 31 May, the Rainbow Warriors will be the guests of the German Vice President, Dr. Susanne Kastner and the German Federal Parliament when they travel to Berlin for a press conference with the Minister of the Interior and Germany’s football hero, Franz Beckenbauer. They will also have dinner with the Vice President and members of the German grand coalition government. Before returning to their German home base of Bad Neustadt, the team will also visit the two stadiums where they will do battle against German Football Clubs Spandau 06 and Deutsche Bahn on June 3 and 4 respectively.
The tour of Germany for Anguilla’s Rainbow Warriors was made possible by financial contributions from the Government of Anguilla, National Bank of Anguilla, Sunset Homes, Wind Drift Villas, Anguilla Social Security, and KT&T Services. In underscoring the value of the response from the public and private sectors, AFA General Secretary said, “it is always refreshing when the government and other national development stakeholders see merit in the personal, athletic and professional development of Anguillians and Anguilla. These companies and institutions have truly demonstrated that they truly believe that football can be used as facet of sustainable national development.”
Meanwhile, the AFA President praised Ian “Sugar George” Edwards for the personal commitment that he made as a player and member of the delegation in using his network to secure support from one of Sunset Homes’ partners for air travel for a member of the national team. The President said, “This act of unselfishness and altruism is what football is really about. The game demands that we be a team and a single unit; Ian has truly epitomised this philosophy and this is the message that I hope his team-mates are able to draw from his actions.”
The members of the Anguilla National Football Team that are presently in Germany are Jarden Abbott, Kapil Assent, Gustave Caines, Crege Clarke, Girdon Connor, Lester Connor, Mark Connor, Kwame Connor, Ian Edwards, Lucian Fleming, Andre Griffith, Kevin Hawley, Leon Jeffers, Romare Kelsick, Carlisle Lake, Kelvin Liddie, Richard O’Connor (Anguillian professional player in the UK), Gaekward St. Hillaire, and Kinairo Smith. The team is being coached by Vernon Hodge; while Bernard Wattley is the Manager and Khalidah Banks is the physiotherapist. They are joined by Alkins Rogers, Raymond Guishard, Diana Carty, Alison Hughes, Monica Guishard, and Damien Hughes.

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