The 2015 edition of the Caribbean Welders Fishing Pond 9-a-side Football League is over but people are still buzzing over the news that there will be a women’s league introduced next year.
Addressing the gathering, Park urged the 15 teams that competed this year to bring out a women’s team while pledging a first prize of $10,000 for the inaugural Fishing Pond Women’s League in 2016.
“This will be a plus for the development of football in Fishing Pond,” Park noted.
He added that the first prize for the men’s tournament will be increased to a whopping $50,000 as well on the condition that the long promised pavilion and floodlights for the ground are finally delivered to the suffering community.
League organiser Prakash Ramkissoon, in a strongly-worded speech, said they have been waiting too long for the ground to be properly developed. He noted the construction of a small make-shift bathroom on the Fishing Pond Recreation Ground which he described as “an insult to the people of Fishing Pond.”
The “bathroom” is cordoned off by three six-feet walls and anyone passing in the area can see who is using it from the part not enclosed. Ramkissoon urged authorities to “do it right if you are doing something.” He added, “If women’s football is to play on this ground, we want proper facilities for the women to feel comfortable.”
He thanked former MP for Toco/ Sangre Grande Dr Rupert Griffith for venturing out of his constituency and delivering on the box drain for the ground last year but made it clear that more is needed to make the ground more accessible to supporters and fit for players.