When FIFA president Sepp Blatter said some years ago that the future of football is women, I don’t think local football administrators fully grasped where he was coming from.
Subsequently, there was no big effort to give the ladies that extra push and helping hand to allow them to develop at the pace they should have.
Blatter was in a position to see that the interest in the women’s game would grow to the extent that even in the face of traditional gender bias there would be the inevitable paradigm shift that would allow it to have its own identity and character and flourish accordingly.
Proof of this breakthrough may have been witnessed last year when England and Germany played at Wembley before a record crowd of over 50 000. Such numbers at the spiritual home of international football were previously reserved for the men.
In fact, it was said by one of the presenters at the Soccerex Seminar held here last October, that women’s soccer is the fastest growing sport in the United States especially on the collegiate circuit.
Not only that, perhaps in keeping with Blatter’s vision to have more gender equality in FIFA, they have mandated member countries to provide more assistance to women’s football than they did in the past.
There are guidelines for all 209 member organisations to apply for and benefit from the FIFA women’s developmental programmes for the said period.
Some key areas of development are competitions, management,education and promotion. It emanated from the Live Your Dreams campaign which was launched in 2011 to encourage more females to get involved in the sport.
The Barbados Football Association has the right, like all other members, to submit their programmes for FIFA assistance. I believe they will follow through because on a point of conscience they recognise that they haven’t done all that was in their power previously to assist our women players.
I know that in previous years the women’s committee chaired by Sylvia Darlington had many dreams and proposals, but very few came to fruition perhaps more so through the lack of will by others to get them implemented because the focus remained squarely on the men.
I also know that it used to be said there wasn’t enough money around to run all of the various programmes adequately and while there may have been a tinge of truth in this, for sure the women’s agenda was never put on the front burner or given any preferential treatment.
We must point out that the efforts to get women’s football going in Barbados started in the 70’s but there were many peaks and valleys and the subsequent lack of sustainability slowed the pace of its progress.
Even worse, at that time FIFA didn’t have the kinds of programmes in place for women that it has now so that made it even harder for the local association to concentrate on developing this form of the game in a serious way because the few coppers they had in the till could barely make ends meet. In fact, like most amateur associations the Barbados Football Association was routinely in the red every year.
And lest we forget,this was decades before FIFA provided annual subventions to members mainly in developing countries to assist with development.
So inevitably in those circumstances, machoism prevented women’s football from being treated as a serious item.What obtains now is an illustration that this form of the sport in Barbados has come a long way even though it’s recognition isn’t absolute as yet.
I believe this will happen as the domestic league gets stronger;as the national teams do better in international tournaments or even as our players get more opportunities for scholarships and some become professionals.
With the FIFA initiatives mentioned earlier, there will be no excuse for the association to be found sleeping at the wheel this time around.
In fact, the recent evidence suggests that they are wide awake.Within a month the national team has had internationals against Grenada and Dominica. In the past they would’ve been very lucky to get one even if they were preparing for a major competition.
I hope this is maintained because this is a vital path to any success who hope to achieve at the international level.It is the best way to evaluate strengths and weaknesses and methods of improving what is working for us.We should see better performances because nothing will beat playing experience.
Blatter’s perception about the women’s game is evolving rapidly and there’s no reason if we become a part of the winds of change, why we can’t play a significant role in its bright future.
Andi Thornhill is an experienced, award-winning sports journalist.
