By Floyd Christie
The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) in association with the Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) concluded their three-day Women’s Football Com-Unity Seminar, which was held at the Savannah Suite at Pegasus Hotel.
Though titled a women’s seminar, men were also present and all attendees were awarded with certificates of attendance at the culmination of the event which ran from August 10-12.
The seminar was aimed at sensitizing football administrators to their roles and responsibilities, and the support structures necessary for the growth and development of women’s football in Guyana.
Participants were drawn from the government and non-government sectors, corporate Guyana and the GFF’s associations and affiliates.
The seminar was devised in 2007 and is a fairly new concept for FIFA according to FIFA Development Officer, based in Trinidad and Tobago, Darren Warner, who addressed media operatives at a press conference following the seminar.
Warner related that FIFA’s partnership with the GFF for the hosting of the seminar was aimed at “taking women’s football forward.”
“The future of football is feminine and I strongly believe that women’s football is here to stay and we need to embrace it,” Warner stated.
Further, Warner noted that areas which are critical to the success of the GFF were high on the agenda of topics discussed at the seminar, such as Communications, Marketing and Relation Management and these were well received by the participants.
Based on the turnout of participants to the seminar which saw approximately 40 attendees daily, Warner noted that this showed a high degree of interest in women’s football locally and he described this as “very eventful”.
“The feedback was excellent. Guyana is well on its way to become a powerhouse in women’s football in the Caribbean and we’re here to provide the road map,” Warner declared.
Also speaking at yesterday’s press conference was FIFA instructor, Michael Boys, who gave examples of countries in the region which took steps and have seen improvements in women’s football and Guyana has the potential to follow suit.
Boys noted that women’s football is a fairly “young sport”, but it is rapidly rising in popularity and development.
“Women’s football is a valuable product… we had to break social barriers, but most of this was already broken by women, so it is rapidly developing,” Boys said.
Meanwhile, GFF President Colin Klass made reference to the recent success of Guyana’s national women’s football team but recognized the need for more improvement in this area.
“Let us go out there and work, it is very important. Go into your communities, schools and places of employment and impart this knowledge,” Klass said as he urged the participants to make full use of their certificates.
