QUEEN’S PARK, one of the many clubs affected by a decision of the new executive of the Trinidad and Tobago Women’s League Football (TTWoLF) to adjust the start of the season, will attempt to fill the gap by staging a small tournament next month.
On Friday, WoLF issued a statement signed by president Letitia Mora declaring: “Contrary to circulating statements, the TTWoLF league has not been cancelled. We are pleased to announce that the league is scheduled to start between the end of November 2024 and January 2025.”
As a result of WoLF’s decision to put a halt, at least temporarily, to competitive local women’s football, some clubs have opted to fill the gap themselves.
“We are doing our own thing, but it’s a shame, because they (WoLF) could be doing the same thing,” Queen’s Park manager Maria Mouttet told the Sunday Express.
“If you don’t want to do a League, you could take six teams and do a round-robin one weekend, another six teams another weekend. You know, keep the girls’ spirits up,” Mouttet added.
Besides Queen’s Park, Defence Force are also expected to step up to provide some playing time.
“The Defence Force (had a) tournament the other day, that was really good,” Mouttet declared. “They (Defence Force) want to do another one in October.”
“We (Queen’s Park) are going to do one in September,” she added, ”We are just going to keep the teams busy until January, and see if anything changes from there. I really don’t know. But it’s sad, sad day for football.”
The lack of football will be a bigger issue for the senior women footballers.
“I think everyone is still training, if just once a week to keep the girls going. You know, play a little fun tournament in between and call it a day,” Mouttet explained that, “school starting just now, that will take away the juniors because they would be busy, but it’s the seniors that will be most affected.”
Mouttet said the decision to push back the 2024 season was disappointing, but one which she suspected was coming, given that it is already close to September, almost nine months into the year.
“It has affected everybody, because we started to train and then they came with this thing,” Mouttet stated.
“We kinda knew it was coming, because we have been reading between the lines.”
Communication Issues
Elected in May, the new WoLF executive consists of former general secretary and now president Mora; Carel Percy (first vice-president); Roxanne Herbert (assistant secretary, administration), Sheniece Auguste (ordinary member); Ikenna Joseph (treasurer); Brittney Williams (assistant secretary, operations); Lystra Lara (assistant secretary, competition); Stacey- Ann Augustus (ordinary member); Kamile De Gale (public relations officer).
However, since its appointment, the new administration has had no formal press conference.
WoLF’s first official communication came on Friday, through president Mora’s press release, refuting a report that the 2024 season was cancelled, and instead stating it was only “readjusted”, possibly to start in November 2024 or January 2025.
Mora’s press release listed all members of WoLF’s executive, but provided neither a contact number for herself, any member of the executive, or its Ato Boldon Stadium office.
“Personally, I didn’t find they made an effort to contact all the teams to find out if they had a home ground or not,” Mouttet said. “But this has been a problem with WoLF for the longest time,” she added. “The ladies have nowhere to play, right? Nowhere to train.
“At Queens Park, we have no way (to train). We train in Mandela (Park). We end up renting UWI (University of the West Indies) for a little bit, and then we call that off, “ she explained.
“But it is a problem that the teams have been having for a long time now, and they’re using that as an excuse.
“I don’t know if it’s going to change in January. I don’t know where they get the (playing) fields from in January, because you have cricket. You also have the men (footballers) playing in January, so it’s like, you know, what is going on?”.
SOURCE: T&T Express