Talk about female football in Guyana and the conversation invariably drifts to the game in the Lethem, Rupununi area but conditions are not so bright and beautiful for the hinterland ladies as it relates to them playing the game which they call ‘their everything’.
Seven ladies from Region Nine – Lorian Toney, Roxanne Stephens, Lioni Robertson, Sonia Griffith, Dacia Hamilton, Olive Ambrose and Vowsiene Michael – are in Georgetown as part of the National Women’s team that will contest next week’s Guyana Football Federation (GFF) three-way tournament involving an overseas Guyanese team and arch rivals Suriname.
Yesterday the ladies all spoke with Stabroek Sport and they collectively concluded that much more is needed to develop the sport of football in the Lethem area.
According to the ladies, football in Lethem to them is like a religion since as kids the first thing you learn to do just after walking is playing football but they are all very disappointed about how much recognition the present administration is giving to the sport.
Toney who happens to be the more outspoken of the ladies said that to her, too much emphasis is being placed on the men but in the Rupununi area they have more women playing the game than men.
“In Lethem, the girls up there just work, go home and play football and those who don’t work, they just go to school and come home and play football, so it’s more of a…I should say a religion up there but we want the GFF to help us more you know, they need to pay more attention to us,” Toney said.
Toney who said she was playing the game since the age of ten was called once for the under-20 national female team but noted that at the time, she was too young and her parents did not allow her to come out and play.
“I think they pay too much attention to the men and the next thing is we don’t have enough footballs. The biggest thing we have is the Heritage tournament and that is played every August but apart from that, nothing is happening for us, just a few girls would come out and play together in different villages and that’s about it,” the striker said.
Nothing going on
When Guyana played in the Turks and Caicos this year in an Invitational tournament, two of the three ladies who joined the team that was made up of mostly overseas players, came from Lethem. Those players were Roxanne Stephens (defender) and Lioni Robertson (goal keeper) but that was as far as their football went in the last year.
The ladies said that in Lethem, Rupununi there is nothing going on as it relates to them making an upward climb in the sport since the Rupununi Football Association (RFA) basically does nothing for them.
“Everything we get, we get it on our own…our boots, clothes and everything, we get on our own. In all fairness to the GFF, I can’t say if they give the RFA stuff for us because the RFA are just there you know, they don’t really give us nothing,” said Toney.
“Sometimes you would see one and two things come out as if they don’t really want to give or something but like I said, I can’t say if the GFF give or not in all fairness to them. But we want them (GFF) to give some more attention to what we do in Lethem and our football,” Toney maintained.
Meanwhile, Robertson and Stephens said that the trip to the Turks and Caicos was very pivotal for them and they thanked the GFF for giving them the exposure. However they also noted that they would like to see something done outside of the Heritage Day tournament for women’s football in their region.
“The tournament over there was good for us because we got a chance to play with the other ladies from Canada and the US but when we came back that was it…so if they can make sure we have certain programmes up there (Lethem) to work with and have coaches coming in steady and so on, I think all the girls would be happy,” Robertson, the soft spoken goal keeper said.
However, Stabroek Sport understands that during the WIN IN CONCACAF IN CONCACAF Pilot programme, the GFF had appointed Ryan Farias as the coach to look into the development of women’s football in the Rupununi after recognizing that it is football central for Women’s football in Guyana.
“You know sometimes we all go over to play in Brazil, well not till in Boa Vista or so but you know some other communities close to the border and trust me, playing there is far better than playing here because the football there is real developed and we get a chance to get something when we play as well,” said Toney.
“For us coming out here is something so good, you know, we feel so great that Guyana will be playing in the Women’s World Cup qualifiers, but after that what? – What will the GFF do next? So that is it, we want them to do more things like this and give other ladies a chance. I think if this comes out great, the other ladies in the villages back home will be more than happy to play because they will have something to look forward to,” unofficial spokesperson Toney said.
