In light of the Guyana senior women’s football team seeking government intervention into the unequitable distribution of resources by the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), former Golden Jaguars captain Christopher Nurse, declared that the Federation needs to publicise financial packages for the women’s team so as to ascertain whether the claims in the letter are indeed accurate.
This was stated during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday. According to Nurse, “The Women’s National Team have gone to the Government seeking assistance in equal treatment. If a third party ‘International Supporters Group’ are running the Lady Jags operations, the first question we need to ask is, why? The GFF have set a precedent now of making public the financial packages for all their playing staff. They should continue this for the technical and administrative staff inclusive of Head Coach and Technical Director, including the female staff to clarify if it is indeed true that they are not paid for their services but conducts the program voluntarily. I believe this is a key characteristics of organisations that reflect Transparency, Honesty and Integrity.”
The Lady Jaguars on Wednesday, dispatched a letter to the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Charles Ramson Jr, highlighting the enduring unequal allocation of resources by the local governing body to the program.
According to the correspondence which was also sent to First Lady Arya Ali, “We are writing to express our frustrations around the unfair and inequitable distribution of resources and support provided to the female participants in comparison to our male counterparts. We feel the impact of years of systemic bias. We have been relegated to second-class citizens because of our gender even though our records and accomplishments are amongst the best across the Caribbean region.”
Nurse further declared, “I think it is very important that we listen to the concerns of Guyana Women’s National Team and understand the level of frustration and discontent they must be feeling to take their concerns to the sports minister. It seems to be a pivotal moment and we need to reflect on how we are governing football in Guyana.”
The Lady Jaguars program, though comprising predominantly foreign-born players from Canada and the USA, are the most successful football team, which is administered by the GFF.
The Lady Jaguars senior side became the first team, male or female, to qualify for the Gold Cup, a feat which took place in 2010, nine years before the Golden Jaguars. They also secured Guyana’s first ever appearance in the Concacaf Olympic Qualifier Championship which occurred in 2016.
Similarly, the Lady Jaguars have recorded the highest ever ranking of 75th, by a senior side, male or female, in 2018. They also became the first ever junior program to secure a quarterfinal berth in 2020 following their participation in the Concacaf U20 Championship.
The letter pointedly stated, “Despite these accomplishments, our Women’ Senior National Team has sat dormant for three years while the men’s team continues to play multiple games each year. Unlike the men’s program, our coaches and staff are volunteers and our players receive no funding to offset the costs of national team participation. Families and players must make financial contributions so that we can have an opportunity to play.”
According to the GFF, each player on the Golden Jaguars team, which featured in the starting XI of the recently concluded FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in the Dominican Republic (DR), is paid US$350, while any player making an appearance as a substitute receives US$250. Unused substitutes are compensated in the sum of US$150, while every player in the squad receives a bonus of US$100 for a victory, and US$25 for every goal scored to a maximum of four goals.
The players had been given a per diem of US$50 for the first four days, although they were in the DR for 14 days. The GFF also stated that local players received reimbursement for transportation for training sessions [at the National Training Centre at Providence] during the preparation phase, with Georgetown players receiving $300 per session, while those from the East Coast Demerara and West Demerara received $400 each. Players hailing from Linden and Berbice were reimbursed the sum of $3,000.
“Imagine how disheartening it is to hear the men get paid for matches in addition to not having to buy their own practice kits or pay for their own practice fields. The financial support to the men’s program at the exclusion of the women’s program is wrong and must stop. Every member of our team has sacrificed to help drive the goal of elevating the role of women in the sport of football across Guyana. We are happy to serve as role models, but the burden should not be ours alone to bear,” the letter lamented.
