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Always Women’s Football League Launched
Seated from left during the launch are Lakeisha Pearson, Padma Kunjbeharry, Wayne Forde, Minister Valerie Garrido-Lowe and Andrea Johnson with player representatives at the back.
The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) in collaboration with Ansa McAl, through their Always and ICool brands, launched the GFF-Always women’s development league yesterday at the Sleepin International Hotel, Brickdam.
In an effort to provide a consistent platform for women to play football and develop their skills, the tournament will feature 49 teams playing the 7-a-side format with over 216 matches in a round-robin/knockout format beginning from October 27.
When the tournament kicks off, there will be four weeks of action before it breaks to accommodate the annual GFF year-end knockout tournament, resuming in February 2019. There will be 25 minutes of play per-half during the group stage while from the quarterfinal onwards, matches would be of 60-minutes, duration.
The league will be played nationwide with areas such as Moruca, Berbice, Linden, Rupununi, Mahdia, and Lethem being very much involved in the action. Present at the launch yesterday were Minister Valerie Garrido-Lowe of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs who is also the Patron of women’s football in Guyana, Head of the GFF; Wayne Forde, President of the Women’s Association Andrea Johnson, Ansa McAl Business Unit Head Padma Kunjbeharry and Lady Jag, Lakeisha Pearson, a player representative.
”I applaud the GFF for this major effort. This is the second time this league is being played and encouraging women’s football is very important. At the recently concluded heritage sports the most exciting moment of the games was the women’s football final,” posited Minister Garrido-Lowe as she highlighted that the ladies can be as equally entertaining as the men.
The Member of Parliament pledged that she will do all that is in her power to assist the hosting of the league, in any way possible.
”Ansa McAl is always proud to be a part of sport. This launch is at a perfect time because just yesterday (Thursday) was the international day of the girl child and we believe that women involvement in sports is very important. The company will be sponsoring through our Icool brand in addition to the title brand, Always, so the ladies will be kept hydrated throughout the matches,” posited Kunjbeharry.
Meanwhile, the GFF boss explained that every female that has an interest in playing football should be given the opportunity to play and that is one of the key objectives of the GFF. He also stated that the Always league will be used as a social platform to help address issues affecting women as well.
”This tournament is a wonderful initiative and it is a great honour to be part of it. It’s comforting to see the progress women’s football is making in Guyana and this tournament will help foster more development. We look forward to a great league,” Pearson, player representative of the league.
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