JFF moving to get women’s football restarted in 2022

General secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Dalton Wint, says the federation has been working assiduously for the resumption of the local women’s league in the new year.

There have been numerous calls from the local fraternity for the restart of the women’s football competition, which was last played in 2018.

Wint said the local women’s league forms a crucial part of the development of the local players and therefore the JFF will be making every attempt to have the league restart early in 2022.

“There is a plan to restart the women’s league, if not in the first quarter, then in the second quarter,” said Wint. “We have been having meetings and discussions and very soon discussions will take place with the clubs as to how we are going to go about restarting the league,” he said.

“The local league is very important to us because we must give the women an equal opportunity to play football at the highest level if we possibly can, and the Premier League is that platform and it will trickle down,” Wint said.

EFFECTS OF LEAGUE ABSENCE

He pointed out that the absence of the women’s league over the past three and half years has certainly affected the development of the local players.

“It is unfair to our ladies and so we want to rectify that. So we must make the investment and we must pull out all the stops to ensure that the women’s league gets started at the earliest possible date,” Wint said.

“Sponsorship will be a very big issue but we are hoping that corporate Jamaica sees it fit to give support to our ladies, because they have done extremely well at the highest level. They have taken us to the World Cup and we can’t disappoint them. We must give them the support so that they will be able to continue their development,” he added.

Charles Edwards, head coach of many-time women’s Premier League champions Barbican, said the women are desperate to get on the field of play.

“It is extremely important for the women’s league to restart very soon because they have started the men’s Premier League and Manning and daCosta Cup football have started. So now I think the girls are wondering when will it be their time to get on the field of play,” Edwards said.