JFF mulls master plan for women's football

Robert Bailey, Gleaner writer

President of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), Captain Horace Burrell, said his administration has set up a committee to review the overall standard of the women's football competitions across the island.

Burrell who was speaking at Monday's Sherwin Williams awards ceremony at the JFF headquarters in New Kingston, told the gathering that his association would be doing a strategic overall of all competitions.

"Right now, the main stake holders in women's football have been meeting over the past few weeks to come up with a master plan and this review that we are doing will help to identify our weak areas and a plan will be put in place to correct these weak areas," said Burrell.

Grateful for support

He added that his administration was also very grateful for the sponsorship and the support from Sherwin Williams.

"I believe that with the many changes, I am very happy that we were to compete a successful season with the help of Sherwin Williams," said Burrell. "I have seen signs of improvement in the leagues and right now, we have conquered the Caribbean region but we must go a step further."

Ian Forbes, managing director of the Sherwin Williams, said his company was very satisfied with the running of both competitions and they are now looking forward to next season.

"We were very pleased with how it went because it was our eighth year of sponsorship and we are happy with the partnership with the JFF and the direction in which women's football is moving," said Forbes.

He added: "I think the standard of women's football has improved tremendously since we started back in 2002. I have seen major improvement in the quality of play and I also think that discipline has improved a lot."

National midfielder Alicia James, was the toast of the ceremony when she won her second Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the last three years.

Pivotal role

The 26-year-old James played a pivotal role in helping her team, Barbican, to successfully defend their titles in both the knockout and league competitions.

James, who has represented Jamaica at all levels, said she was very grateful for the award. "I have worked very hard for this throughout the season and my teammates also helped me along the way and I must thank them too," said James, who scored seven goals in the league competition.

James added: "I was a bit surprised because I was expecting one of my other teammates to get the award. However, this will certainly help me to encourage my teammates and to let them know that they will be rewarded for hard work."

Barbican also collected the champion's trophy and $240,000 for winning the competition, while runners-up Portmore Strikers took the second-place trophy and $160,000. Harbour View, who finished third, collected $70,000. Portmore Strikers' Tashawna Vincent was the league's leading scorer with 21 goals.