Debe High School girls football coach Arnold appealing for more focus and initiative to be put on grounds that host girls Secondary School tournaments, and even senior women football.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Murphy said, “I’ve been coaching and associated with female football in Trinidad and Tobago for many years, and it has always been like that.”
He made mention that the male football was always given first preference to the better fields and facilities, while the girls always had to face “very uncomfortable conditions” at some of the grounds that they are to play on, throughout this year’s almost complete league season.
The coach complained, “we are mostly given school grounds to play on, and so far for this season, which only consists of two more games, the girls have not played a game at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.”
Murphy followed by stating that some of the school grounds they’ve played on, were poorly maintained and not of proper size to accommodate professional football.
The grounds didn’t always have proper pavilions for spectators, and facilities were sometimes discouraging for schools to come and show their support.
He continued saying, “Many games that were played away from home, the team sometimes had to use school classrooms as a dressing room, before and after matches, with no access to showers and proper privacy,”
Murphy felt that the stadiums were being under-utilised by the girls and they deserved a fair and equal chance, just as the male footballers.
Team captain Patrice Vincent shared a similar opinion last week, as she called for a better quality of playing fields.