LEFT: Portmore Strikers' Tashana Vincent (left) shields the ball from Waterhouse's Omolyn Davis during the final of the JFF/Sherwin Williams women's competition last month.
RIGHT: René Simoes: There is really not much difference with how men play game, how woman play game.
Robert Bailey, Freelance Writer
WHEN WATERHOUSE defeated Portmore Strikers 6-5 on aggregate, claiming their first lien on the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF)/Sherwin Williams Women's Premier League at the Drewsland Mini Stadium, it not only signalled the changing of the guard but also a new era in women's football.
The win represented the first time a team outside of the big three - Barbican, Harbour View and Portmore - had lifted the coveted title. In the A League, another first-timer, Reno, gained promotion to the Premier League by beating Arnett Gardens 5-0 on aggregate in the A League finals."The gap between the clubs in the league is certainly getting much closer because if you notice, the two finalists in this year's competition were not in the mid-season final," said Xavier Gilbert, coach of Waterhouse and also a former national Under-20 coach.According to Gilbert, a significant factor in the non-traditional clubs gaining prominence is that the talent is being spread right across the league, which goes a long way in pushing the development of the often-ignored local sport."I think talent has been spreading right around the league and the young players are going into other clubs rather than the normal traditional teams and this is a trend that I have seen over the past couple of years," Gilbert said."I think the schoolgirls' league has also been making tremendous inroads in terms of the development of the women's league, because a lot of players are now making the transition straight from school to winning starting places in Premier League clubs," Gilbert pointed out.The coach believes that with the influx of talent now visible throughout the league, it will only be a matter of time before the girls will begin to make a mark on the international scene."Once we can maintain the discipline and the high level of competition, it will do well for the development of female football in Jamaica," Gilbert said.Rankings
The Jamaicans are ranked 76th in the world and are fourth in CONCACAF behind the likes of the United States, Mexico and Canada. They were eliminated from the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2006 as well the CONCACAF Under-20 World Cup qualification tournament at the semi-final stage the same year."We need more international practice games because we need to expose the girls to a different level of competition," Gilbert pointed out."The only time we reach this magnitude of competition is when we play the likes of United States, Mexico and Canada and we can't only have this in tournaments. We must have more games and play teams that are better than us because this is the only way we will improve," he said."Whenever we play in the Caribbean tournaments, it doesn't really help us much because we beat these teams eight of nine times and this is not going to help us in any way," he said.Top female Caribbean team
"I anticipate good things from this new (JFF) administration in terms of development of women's football in the country, I have no doubt that some of the things that were lacking before will be addressed now," he said.Jamaica is the top female Caribbean team and earned a berth at last year's Pan American Games in Brazil where they failed to advance past the group stage.Vin Blaine, a former national coach of the senior women's team, also agrees that more international friendlies against quality opposition is the way to go."We need to expose the girls to a higher level of competition and not just the regional tournaments," argued Blaine."We also need to instil a lot more discipline in the teams, because this is also one of the problems that has been affecting us," he said."The league system is OK as it is now, but what we want is proper club management because in the women's league there is no structure like in the men's league and so we need to start treating the women's league with more professionalism and respect," Blaine said.Simoes brings hope
Blaine, also coach of the Harbour View women's team, hopes that with the return of Brazilian technical director René Simoes, some of these changes will be effected."I will have to wait and see what he (Simoes) brings and if intends to take the female programme to another level," said Blaine."What we want to see now is a lot more respect to be shown to women's football in the country. We need serious media coverage," Blaine explained.Still the girls, like most female athletes in Jamaica, will have to continuously contend with the fact that they are locked into a sport dominated by men. The Reggae Boyz demand and get the lion's share of the country's crowd and financial support, while the women scramble for what's left behind.
Simoes to focus on the GirlzKwesi Mugisa
Staff Reporter
RAPIDLY BLOOMING across the globe, the development of local women's football is expected to be high on the list of priorities on which technical director René Simoes will focus in his second go with the national programme.Women's football has certainly achieved more prominence, particu-larly on the international stage, since the Brazilian's first stint which began in 1994.In 2006, Jamaica's Under-20 team was edged out of a spot in the World Cup, when it lost to Canada in the semi-finals. Later that year, in an identical position, the senior team, which showed its quality through an impressive campaign, also saw its hopes of a place in the women's World Cup dashed following a loss to the Canadians.Time and planning
These and other instances of several of Jamaica's more talented players landing scholarships to play abroad make Simoes confident that the team can, with time and planning, become a force to be reckoned with."We have to start at early stage. It is like that in the US where you can get little girls and boys to play together. It goes a long way in helping develop sports for women," Simoes told The Gleaner."There is really not much difference with how men play game, how woman play game. Look at Germany for instance - it is same. Jamaica girls have the opportunity to play as well as Reggae Boyz," he added in halting English.Though sponsorship issues have been a major hindrance to the game over the years, things have certainly been coming on in recent times and local women's football looks to be receiving some support. For Simoes, this is just part of the worldwide trend."I tell you years ago if you say women would be play good football or be president, people would laugh," Simoes said."But everything is different now, women break barriers and overcome prejudice all the time. It's same with women football. Women's football is now a reality around the world," he said."I have no doubt that, very soon, (Jamaica) can become a great power in CONCACAF."No stranger to the women's game, Simoes coached the Brazil women's team to a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
