With the omission of Rupununi players from this year’s Inter- Guiana Games (IGG) female team, representatives of the hinterland football association are crying foul, saying that it is a slap in the face.
It was the first time in the 42-year history of the games that female football was added as a competition, making the event historic.
“Everyone in this country knows that we (Rupununi) are the female football central,” said Michael Abraham, a member of the region’s football association and who is also tasked with ensuring that the women’s football programme is properly administered in the area.
Abraham said that they were told about Guyana having to field a female team at this year’s IGG through the sports ministry parliamentary secretary Steve Ninvalle who was in the area last year to run off his annual inter-block tournament.
“Mr. Ninvalle visited us last year and when he saw our females play, he said he was more than impressed and told us about the IGG female event, but after then we heard nothing,” Abraham told Stabroek News, adding that then it just died a natural death.
The hinterland resident stated that most of the players are under the age of 20 and he’s of the opinion that if a few of his players were given a chance to be on the Guyana team, the results would have been a bit different.
He also mentioned that the sports ministry is more than aware of the talent which exists in the Rupununi since they are the sponsors of the annual Amerindian Heritage Day which is called the ‘World Cup’ for hinterland football players.
This, Abraham says, is their biggest event and is held every September but apart from that the players keep active by playing friendly matches against each other.
Having a few of the players on the Guyana side would have paid dividends for their hard work over the years and would have spurred more interest from women within the various villages.
The Ministry of Sports is also a full sponsor of the Rupununi team that normally competes at the Annual Kashif and Shanghai Football Tournament and Abraham says he is still baffled why at least a few of the girls from his region were not included.
He says they are now left to assume that maybe money was the problem that prevented them from having a place in the IGG female team, considering reports in the local media after the games.
When asked about the omission of the Rupununi players, Director of Sport Neil Kumar, told Stabroek News 20% of the GFF’s US$250,000 annual funding from the world governing body FIFA should be spent on the development of women’s football and so the NSC had informed the GFF some time last year about the staging of the IGG women’s football tournament and the need for assistance in providing a team.
This, he said, did not materialize and so they hastily selected a team from Berbice since some programmes by the NSC last year made them aware that there were women footballers in the ‘ancient county’ who were ready to play. He said they had less than three months to get a team up and running. Stabroek Sport posed the question about his games’ committee not looking outside Berbice and Kumar said, “time did not permit”.
He said that at several meetings with the sports directors from French Guiana and Suriname to discuss the IGG he had pushed for them to drop women’s football because he knew that Guyana was in a predicament to find a good team. After having his idea dropped off at the curb, it left them no choice but to field the ‘Berbice team’ to represent Guyana.
But looking on the bright side, Abraham says that out of the abundance of talent among the females, Danny Martin, sister of national junior athlete Ricardo Martin, is probably one of the best players in the Rupununi.
He was also quick to mention Samantha Eaulino, Phillis Lorentinno, Mary Peoline and Kathlene Finon Abraham who are all talented and of age for the IGG event.
Through the Guyana Football Federation Abraham says that they will be pressing for their players to be given a shot at representing Guyana just like any other person from any other region.
At present, according to the Rupununi representative, they are preparing to run off an under-15 tournament which will see villages within the region competing against each other.
The IGG female team in which all the players came from Berbice had 20 goals scored against them in the two matches played. First they lost to French Guiana 7-0 and them to eventual champions Suriname 13-0.
