BY: Hassan Alimamy Kamara
Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Women’s Premier League Board, Jenessi Matturi, in a move to ensure for effective and competitive Women’s football league in the country, has called for more women participation into the game. She added that most of the teams are owned by men and few are owned by women; so therefore, she urged for more women into the game to give it the flavour of femininity.
In addition, she called for more young girls to be inspired into the game and for women to participate in the official roles of the game, as she said they only have limited number of female officials.
With this, she assured that a structured female national team can be built which the country can be proud of. She added that their dream is not only to build the skills of players, but also match and other officials. She said this on Thursday 20th October 2022, at the Ministry of Information and Communications Youyi Building in Freetown, during its weekly national press briefing.
To incorporate more women into the game since they do not have that much, she said in a situation where a male serving as the head official of a match, said having to pairing alongside a female to learn from the male counterpart. In doing this, she explained that a training session for match officials was organised. As the Women’s league becomes a new phenomenon in the country, she said it is not just about football, but it has to go hand-in-hand with education for more self empowerment.
Explaining further the dynamics of the league, she said it is comprised of twelve (12) teams, with four coming from Freetown, a team from Lungi, Kambia, Kabala, Kenema, Kailahun, Khorya, Bo and Rutile. To encourage for more school going pupil’s participation, she said all matches are to be played on weekends, that is, three games per Saturdays and Sundays. She said to give more confidence about the effectiveness of the league, they had to visit the various Communities taking part in the league, to have an engagement with clubs representatives and parents of players, since it has to do with females, to guarantee their security and safety and to do sensitization around the game.
Talking about the setting up of the league, she emphasized that the league is a first of its kind in Sierra Leone, having to host the first ever elite league taking place in the country. She continued that women football has been on the low over the years and said it about time to fix that up. Talking about how they came about functioning, said the Sierra Leone Football Association appointed seven of them in a board to give them their specific mandates to organise and run the setting up of the first ever league for a year period.
Asked about the sustainability of the league, she assured that it will be, having the world football governing body, the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) making emphasis about the league. However, she called for more sponsorship to keep the league alive, having received support from the President of Sierra Leone and his wife, Gento group of Companies, Sierra Leone Commercial Bank, Sierra Leone Football Association, and others.
