‘Let us not miss this boat’
Former SDF boss points to unsustainability of Reggae Girlz programme
Published:Thursday | August 10, 2023 | 12:08 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
DENZIL WILKS, the new manager of athletic development and training at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and former general manager of the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) has pointed out that it will be very difficult for the country to maintain the legacy of the Reggae Girlz.
Wilks, guest speaker at a Rotary Club of St Andrew lunch meeting on Tuesday at Toyota Jamaica Limited, said it was almost a miracle that the Girlz qualified for the women’s football showpiece consecutively without a proper structure in place for the development of women’s football locally.
According to Wilks this is not sustainable. In order to build on the success of the Girlz at the World Cup, where they became the first Caribbean team to make a round-of-16 appearance, ousting a powerhouse in the form of Brazil on the way, the Jamaica Football Federation must make a concerted effort to strengthen the foundation and infrastructure of the local women’s game.
“Almost by miracle we found ourselves qualifying for the Women’s Word Cup in 2019 first. That was a miracle because there wasn’t a lot happening in terms of development, and the JFF and the rest of us had to catch up with what was going on.
“Then we were qualifying again (2023) in spite of COVID for the second time running. So we have the females qualifying for a second time running, unprecedented.
“I don’t know how we have managed it, and we can go further into what can be defined as part of the legacy, but qualifying back to back is in itself a legacy,” he said.
THE UNTHINKABLE HAPPENING
He continued that it was also unthinkable that the Girlz would go undefeated through the first round and qualifying for the round of 16, especially with the scant regard with which women’ football has been treated locally.
As a result, he praised coach Lorne Donaldson and the players for executing their plans almost to perfection.
“The girls ended the first round with no goals scored against us. This is just an amazing feat.
“Clearly, those in charge were able to identify our strengths, and the fact is our strength is in defence. We didn’t have a lot of attackers. We have one of the best attackers in the world (Khadija Shaw). But she is, basically, alone and at that high level, she is going to be marked by two and three persons as we have seen.
“So to end the first round with a clean sheet, and although we have now exited the competition with one goal scored against, they deserve a round of applause as the ladies have established a paradigm for those following to use as measuring sticks.”
He argued that the football structure has been turned on its head because normally, you build from your grass-roots programmes into junior competitions and then the senior and international competitions
“But here, we have a situation where we have been to the World Cup without a programme. I would go as far as to say we have built the roof without the foundation.
“But we find ourselves at the top mainly through the instrumentality of Cedella Marley and the Marley Foundation. But this current situation, as well as we have done, in reality, is not sustainable,” he declared.
“If we do not build a programme at the local level, we will not be able to sustain it. Just like how the men went to the World Cup and should have used that as the foundation to move forward and go to World Cups thereafter and we missed that boat. Let us not miss this boat.
“The legacy of the Reggae Girlz must be to utilise this to build sustainability. The paradigm has been established, the stage has been set, and here is a script for us to follow.
“Let us grab the baton we have been provided with and begin digging the foundation that will take us to circumstances which we can genuinely contemplate getting to the quarterfinals and the semi-finals, and ultimately, the final, and I do not think that is beyond us.”
He added also that the powers that be do not need more indicators that sport is an industry and is deserving of the kind of support to move it forward.
“Sports is the biggest seller of Jamaica and should be getting the kind of input that will assure the reinvestment in sports in order to build on what we have achieved.
“So all who have responsibility should ensure we treat sports the way we ought to treat it: like a full-fledged industry that can contribute to the development of the economy and equally, to the development of the nation in all spheres.”