WIFA Women’s Tournament Already Touted a Success

Following a six year hiatus, the WIFA Women’s Championship, being held in St Vincent and the Grenadines, is already being declared a success.

General Secretary of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation, Peter

Edwards, said the consensus was to introduce the competition in preparation for

the CONCACAF tournaments to give teams more exposure.

“So I remember getting involved in the WIFA initiative when we met in Bangkok

for FIFA Congress. We said that we have to revive WIFA and that we have to get

WIFA going again. So all the presidents and the general secretaries that were

there at the time, we met and we decided that we have to do something. Then

when we met in Paraguay again for FIFA Congress, we had a meeting and we

came up with the initiative. We wanted to start with the under 23 males and

then it was felt by the other countries that we should focus on women because

we needed to develop women football and to give them an avenue of

opportunity as they prepare for World Cup qualifiers. So that's how we started.

It is also my privilege to welcome Barbados, Dominica, St Lucia to our beautiful

shores.”

Edwards noted that the participating countries were enthusiastic about the

competition and pledged their support. “Oh yes, they were all, including Grenada, that is not there. But they did indicate early o'clock that if we are going with the women, senior women, they wouldn't.

be able because they had prior engagement and they couldn't get out of the

contractual arrangement they would have had prior to that. But all, including

Barbados, is always very welcome to our Windward Islands. They always

participated. Dominica from day one said that they want to be part of it.”

“I hope by next year, WIFA is a new initiative, you know, and that should be all

four countries, including Barbados and other countries, which the discussion is

already on the way in terms of expanding WIFA activities to other countries.

Because even this year BVI wanted to join us, but again the time that we

wanted to do it, they had not allowed us.”

According to the General Secretary, the calibre of play has been impressive thus

far he hopes that countries use this opportunity for networking and sharing

knowledge.

“I think St Lucia ladies are really talented. I think they have something good

happening there. When Dominica played, they kept Saint Lucia really tight. They

did an excellent job under the circumstances. Also…when Barbados played St

Vincent, that's not the outcome I would have liked, but it shows that the ladies

are really pushing. And even in the session we had earlier on today, they're

talking about they give their all, and I really want to congratulate. I think every

one of them are winners, because the fact that they come out there and they

give their best, and the competition is good as they prepare, but I think the

collaboration, the synergies and the networking that those girls will have after

this event for me goes beyond just the playing field.”

“Always seize the opportunity for networking, for developing your skills,

because you must be, you have to see somebody from a different one of the

countries that have a skill set that you admire, and how you could build your

own, and you could, we could collaborate on our skills and get network, because

beyond the playing field, there is also your future, there is also what you would

want to be in terms of your own personal development, and those, and we are

one Caribbean, I believe in Caribbean integration,” he continued.

During the week spent in St Vincent, teams also participated in a seminar

facilitated by the United Nations. The seminar, under the theme “Our Goal…Her

Equal Rights”, brought to the fore the challenges faced by female footballers and

also addressed concerns about mental, physical, sexual and reproductive health.

Edwards said it was important to engage the young women on these matters.

“So when we were discussing and planning, we said that we don't have a game

only focusing on the field, we need to focus off the field, and how we could

empower those young ladies, and how we could give them some sort of support,

and how we could make them better persons as a footballer, and as a person,

and then we thought about it, and we said, well, women's health issues are

sometimes overlooked, and some of those topics that we chose came from the

women's committee, and some of the challenges that ladies face, they know it

better than us, we are men, we don't understand what they face most of the

time, so that's why we were able to pull in the doctors, and all of those persons

to be able to give us those sessions, that will empower the young ladies, that

will motivate them, that will give them the zeal that they need to push on the

field and off the field.”

The competition will come to a close on Saturday, with the third place match at

5pm followed by the final at 7:30pm.