Girlz set good example for region – Reid

Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz Robert Bailey/Gleaner Writer HORACE REID, director of Caribbean football for CONCACAF, is urging countries across the region to use Jamaica’s senior women’s football team’s qualification for the next FIFA World Cup as a motivation to develop their women’s programmes.

The Reggae Girlz became the first female team from the Caribbean to qualify for the competition last month when they finished third at the CONCACAF Women’s Championships in Texas, USA.

“This success by the Reggae Girlz could not have come at a better time for Jamaica and the Caribbean, and hopefully, all nations across the region will use this to galvanise even more of their efforts and their focus,” Reid said.

“There is nothing that attracts success more than success and one will anticipate that there will be even greater interest in the sport from the girls not only in Jamaica, but across the region,” he said.

“What it says, that it is possible, and by achieving the ultimate of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup at the highest level, it shows the potential for all the young ladies across the region that ... once you dream big, once you work hard, and once you are committed to your craft, then it is possible,” Reid said.

Reid, a former general secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation, also REID argued that the qualification of the Reggae Girlz will also help to raise the profile of the women’s game in the region.

“The potential is there once we use the achievements of the Reggae Girlz to set the bar for what is possible,” he said.

RIGHT PROGRAMME

“We just need to have the right programmes in place across the board and across the region. Everybody needs to use this as very good yardstick as to what is possible,” Reid said.

He added that football federations across the region should look to put systems and programmes in place that will aid the development of the women’s game.

“It is important to have competitions for the girls both at the youth level and senior level so that there can be a proper matriculation of the talent and [to] allow them to develop their craft in much the same way that we have afforded the opportunity to the men,” Reid stated.

‘We just need to have the right programmes in place across the board and across the region.’