The Gambia Football Federation GFF recently sent a high powered delegation to the regions with a view to get the regional women football leagues started The team spent four days touring the country, meeting football stakeholders on the matter as well as assessing the impact of the FIFA Live Your Goals Girls festival.
The tour party started in the CRR before meeting with the stakeholders in Basse. The next day LRR and the North Bank Region were covered before the team returned to base.
GFF Women’s Football Coordinator Sainey Sissoho gave an overview of the trek and informed the stakeholders that the GFF President and his executive are very much interested to see the commencement of the Women’s League in the regions. She informed the stakeholders that her team is also looking at the impact of the FIFA Live Your Goals Girl’s Festival. “This is a four year legacy program by FIFA and the Gambia is enjoying the project. It will phase out very with a final staging of the event in the CRR, but before that we want to find out how successful the events were and how it has impacted on the girls and the region in general,” she said.
Earlier on, GFF ExCO member and Chairperson Women’s Football Committee Ms Sainabou Cham thanked the stakeholders for attending the meeting. ‘Our mission is to translate the vision of the football leadership and you will realize that Women football is one of the key structures of the GFF. So we want to start the Regional league but we cannot do it without your involvement’,” she told the stakeholders. The stakeholders thanked the GFF for coming to their doorsteps and mingling with them to find out first hand information. The CRRFA President NumuKunda Kanyi, praised the GFF president Kaba Bajo for his’ personal interest in the development of women football across the country. He said the regions will do their best to come up since the GFF is ready to support them at all cost.
During the tour all the regional officials lamented the lack of equipment, funding, social stigma and parental interference. However, all the officials challenged one another to break the barriers in allowing their girls to play football.
Source: GFF
