STEPS AFOOT TO INTEGRATE REGION ONE AS AN OFFICIAL MEMBER ASSOCIATION OF THE GUYANA FOOTBALL FEDERATION
– Female Football Festival Held And Clubs Registered
– Identification Of Technical Officials Conducted
REGION 1 OUTREACH: Participating teams members with GFF Officials
23rd October, Georgetown: The Guyana Football Federation (GFF), as part of its strategic mandate of football development in Guyana including the hinterland, has hosted an outreach in Region 1 aimed at ultimately leading the region to full membership.
This two-day outreach, which began on the 21st October, was conducted last weekend at Port Kaituma by Executive Member of the GFF, Magzene Stewart, GFF Women’s Development Officer, Tricia Munroe and Secretary of the National Association of Women’s Football (NAWF), Andrea Johnson.
As part of the outreach, the team held discussions with community leaders, issued football equipment including uniforms and balls, registered 10 clubs and hosted a female knockout tournament. The tournament was among four combined teams from clubs that represented Port Kaituma, Sebai, Moruca and Matthew’s Ridge. Additionally, 18 persons expressed interest in being match officials including six who are desirous of becoming referees.
In an invited comment, President of the GFF, Wayne Forde said the women’s outreach programme is an initiative to excite, intervene and to interact with the members of clubs in Region 1: “The goal is to play festival knockout competitions and undertake the registration of clubs. This is all part of the GFF Council agenda to extend the reach of football and to empower our brothers and sisters within the Hinterland communities. We recognize that our indigenous brothers and sisters are very passionate about football and we are taking every step possible to give them the opportunity to participate and to be eligible for selection in our national teams and participate in our national programmes.”
Meanwhile, Stewart said the communities were happy for the investment made by the GFF: “Some teams said they didn’t even have balls to play or practice with, and it was sad. We were grateful to be able offer assistance and in the future look to provide more support including equipment. The communities and clubs responded very positively to the initiative too. While there, we saw some very talented women football being played. I would love to see some of those young ladies be our future Lady Jags.”
The results of the knockout tournament reflected wins achieved by kicks from the penalty mark as follows: Sebai defeated Moruca in the finals by a 3 – 2 margin and Port Kaituma defeated Matthew’s Ridge in the third-place match by a 2 – 1 margin. A presentation ceremony was held at the end of the tournament where the top three teams received trophies and medals.