In an eff0rt to enhance the role of women on the field, the Dominica Football Association (DFA) has embarked on an aggressive approach to develop women’s football on the island.
On November 17, 2020, the technical department of the DFA launched the ‘Growing Women Football’, an initiative which is community-based and will target females 15 and above to revive the sport among that gender, by a few coaches selected by the DFA.
Presenting the overview of the program, Technical Director of the DFA, Jerome Bardouille, remarked that this initiative will not only be focused on females on the field but also at an administrative level.
“We cannot be satisfied with growing football in the island if attention is not given to women on the whole scheme of things” he pointed out.
He told reporters that following a comprehensive analysis of the football situation in Dominica, the DFA technical department was faced with some revealing data and although there were countless opportunities to develop the game, the challenges have been described as conspicuous.
Some of these challenges, he noted, are the weak or small percentage of ladies at our grassroots levels, the lack of girls alone team (expect at the senior level), as well as insufficient training facilities, equipment, and resources.
He further stated, “When we look at the senior level we do not have enough female clubs presently in our competition and at the time of the analysis, we saw that the coaches that are presently engaged with a lot of our club are male dominated. our clubs are not sufficiently structured to propel the football at the level we would like to see it.”
To curb the many challenges, the DFA has decided to organize coaching courses for women, beginning at the grassroots level. The association is also pursuing a partnership with the Ministry of Education and Sports and said that they have started the process of putting a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in place to advance the sport.
Meantime, President of the DFA, Glenn Ettiene, noted that such initiative was “a breath of fresh air” and will certainly advance women football in Dominica.
“To date, we see an aggressive move that is unprecedented and one that has alerted our populace that women have their part to play in maintaining football as the number one spot on our beautiful island Dominica,” he stated.
According to Etienne, the DFA has utilized the resources and expertise available to provide greater opportunities for the many ladies who would venture into the sport.
“We in Dominica have embraced everyone’s interest in playing, cutting across all boundaries in terms of society, race, political affiliation, religion, ethnicity, or socioeconomic circumstances. We have made the game the glue that draws heart together and the cohesive force that unites us all, irrespective of where we come from,” he reported. “This present administration has allowed a record level of investments to women football projects and hopefully in the near future looking to introduce new leagues and competition as more funds are injected into our games.”
The president indicated that at the grassroots levels, more projects dedicated to women’s football will soon be launched and promises that this year will end with a thrust to attract and introduce many more women into the game.
“It is our hope to see the number of female participants in the game upwards bridging the gap between male and female players. With this drive we will see more female clubs and an improved level of play consequently changing the complexion of the sport for the better in our country” he said.
He expressed optimism that one day every club in Dominica will have a female team of every age group.
…“This present administration has allowed a record level of investments to women football projects and hopefully in the near future looking to introduce new leagues and competition as more funds are injected into our games.”
Mr. Etienne, can you PLEASE outline some of these women football projects? You- guys come on the media with a bunch of nice words when we know that the Association shows very little interest in developing women’s football. There is NOTHING on the ground to show any development by the DFA in advancing women football. How do you expect more clubs to register to participate in women football leagues when there are NO incentives to support the clubs. Giving a club EC$1,000 to assist with transportation costs to game venues for a full season is absurd. Let’s see how much the FA will give to clubs from the US$500,000 given by FIFA for women football in Dominica.
Enough with the fancy words. We know better!!!
Ive realized that many of us have completely abandoned the use of possessive nouns. Everywhere i go i see this nonsense. It is WOMEN’S Football. Not Women football. Men’s Football. not Men Football. AUNTY’S child, not aunty child. We boast our high literacy rate in Dominica, but more and more i am convinced that many of us didnt do well in English class. Either that or it is a case of not even our writing that we take pride in anymore. Once more i encourage the use of possessive nouns, especially is you operate a business. That is the worst.
Like seriously dude…stupsssss!!!!!