If long-standing East Zone chairman of the Secondary Schools Football League Merere Gonzales is elected president of the SSFL this year, a Girls Premier Division competition will be introduced.
In fact, a Girls Premiership Division, similar to what is being played by the Boys, will be implemented regardless of who the administrators of the sport will be, as discussions started in 2019 and the COVID19 pandemic stopped what should have been a historic event last year.
However, Gonzales, a former teacher, and World Cup referee will be acting on a desire by the sport's world governing body- FIFA, for more emphasis to be placed on women's football in the country, to have the League (Girls Premiership) to be certain when the SSFL is held again.
Gonzales in an interview told Guardian Media Sports on Friday: "We were going to embark last year on a Girls Premier Division and that is an area that is surely needed to be improved on in the SSFL and in the country at large. As you know FIFA has been advocating for some time now that the future of football is female, so I think that is an area that will be generating a lot of interest in creating a more effective and efficient programme to improve the level of girls football," Gonzales explained.
With the SSFL constitution mandating that the AGM and Elections must be held by March/April this year, following its postponement last year due to coronavirus, Gonzales admitted that a lot of good work was done by the SSFL executive for the past years, and his intention is to continue and better what was done in the coming years.
He said women's football has been so prominent around the world now that in America, on any given scale, if there are 10 scholarships available, out of them, seven are available for females.
"Even last year and year before, what happened was that scholarships were available for girls, a lot of them but most of the girls who are involved in the football are in forms two and three, so they couldn't take up the scholarships. So the opportunities are there but you have to tap into it and ensure that the girls benefit from what is available for them," Gonzales said.