Quite often than not, The Gambia’s Football Federation President Mr. Lamin Kaba Bajo, has been pleaded upon by CAF and FIFA colleagues to help convince his African FA compatriots to take women’s football with utmost seriousness.
This is largely down to Mr. Bajo and his administration’s passion for women’s football development, and he wouldn’t miss an interview opportunity or a casual football discussion to show his passion for its growth. Those rhetoric aren’t a mere lip service for he is an ardent follower of the domestic women’s league and would watch a minimum of two national league matches each match week.
This has been felt at both the continental and international level and it is against this backdrop that at each football gathering, they want him to further share experience and convince his counterparts to see the positive side in supporting women’s football. For the first time in our history, a women’s domestic league has been played in all the administrative regions of the country for the 2018/19 season, which serves as the national third division. It is this decision by the Federation’s leadership that has ensured the decentralisation of the domestic women’s game has been achieved and thus taking the shape of a national character just like the men’s league.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the Lower River Regional Football Association held its women’s league final and this weekend, the region is the scene of a national talent search exercise that brought together participants between the ages of 12 and 15 from all the regional football associations. Women’s football again took center stage and one of the region’s coaches said more parents are now seeing the game in a positive light by allowing their daughters to practice the sport.
Speaking in an interview with www.gambiaff.org, Mariama Jambang, who is also a physical education teacher expressed delight in what has been demonstrated by the young girls. She added that the grassroots football initiative by the GFF is timely and shows that women’s football is growing and getting better than before.
She stated that a women’s football coaches association is now been established in the region as a result of the capacity building training on coaching they received from the Federation few months ago. The training was organised for all the regions through The Gambia-German football project and was coordinated by the Director of the project, Monica Staab and the energetic and indefatigable Sainey Sissohore (whose passion for the women’s game is beyond imagination), the Women’s Football Coordinator of the GFF. “Since then, we formed the association and each member has established a girl’s school team in your area, particularly at the schools,” she disclosed.
Jambang stated that the training has impacted a lot on her standards and gave her a purpose and hope that women’s football will continue to grow in the region. She, therefore, encouraged young girls to get involved in sports because it’s not only for boys while urging parents to give more support to their daughters to showcase their God given talents. “It’s a challenge we face every day but I think it’s improving now, parents always find it hard to give us the chance to express our inner talents. Football is money now, as you saw in the recently concluded Women’s World Cup in France. GFF alone cannot do it, the society needs to accept and adapt to the facts of sharing,” she concluded.