Despite the intermittent showers and soggy playing area, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) participated in CONCACAF’s Women Football Day initiative yesterday by successfully staging a plethora of events at the Fruta Conquerors ground in Tucville.
Technical Director of the GFF Claude Bolton said he was elated and overwhelmed at the overall turnout at the event declaring that the girls had shown a willingness and enthusiasm to participate and learn.
He added that while he was told the women’s game would be hard to ignite, the numbers that participated in the initiative was evidence that the women’s game is alive and willing to prosper in the country once it is properly structured.
“The reality is our short-term is planning for the long-term so we need to get into that Under-13, Under-15 age group, for both boys and girls but the girls in particular to identify players.
“The Ministry of Education just started talks with us over the past three months regarding all of football, but that’s a link we have to bridge because we have the children right there in schools, so maybe there’s something we can put in place,” he added.
The initiative, which is novel one to the CONCACAF region, focusses on generating awareness of the female aspect of the discipline as well as forging a common bond among the member associations by creating a day specifically dedicated for women’s football.
Teams that participated in the event came from the Georgetown Football Association, West Demerara Football Association, East Demerara Football Association, Berbice Football Association, Upper Demerara Football Association and East Bank Football Association.
Also participating in the event were Petra Organization Pee Wee Girls champs Stella Maris Primary and runners-up St. Sidwell’s Primary. While the events of the day consisted of clinics and exhibition matchups, the main attraction was three-a-side tournament.
West Berbice emerged the victor as they defeated Demerara Ladies of Linden by a 1-0 score line in the grand finale. Initially, the competing teams played in a round-robin format with each team contesting four matches each.
West Berbice punched their ticket to the final with a record of three wins and one loss while Demerara Ladies was unbeaten during the group round with four wins.
