“Equal play for women and girls in sport.” This was the commitment from Caryl Kellar, advisor to the Minister of Youth and Sport Affairs, Anil Roberts at the launch of the mascot for the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The Local Organising Committee launched the mascot, “Trinity”, yesterday at a fun filled event on the Brian Lara Promenade, Port-of-Spain, following a parade by the team through the streets of St James and PoS. The mascot unveiled is representative of the various cultures in T&T, donned in an Amerindian headpiece, reminiscent of T&T’s Amerindian heritage, as well as Carnival headpieces which grace the street of our twin-island republic every year.
The steel pan motif on the collar of it’s jersey is meant to be a reminder of our national instrument, while it’s red, black and white colours symbolise T&T’s nationalistic spirit for sport and most especially football.
Finally, the mascot is one of a strong young woman who is fit, vibrant and spirited and embodies the power of women and shows that it is acceptable for women to be seen as athletic and physically strong. Passers-by flocked to the stage where they were introduced to the mascot and the U-17 team which will attempt to make history at the end of the World Cup which takes place in T&T from September 5 to 25.
Just like boys, girls dream of becoming superstar players, they dream of representing their country on the world stage,” said Kellar. “This is why MSYA is promoting equal play for women and girls in sport during this U-17 tournament and beyond.” Kellar said, girls put equal effort in daily to become the best and as such, deserve equal support in the sporting arena to accomplish such.
“Equal play means equal allocation of resources, equal access to sporting facilities, equal airtime, during the sportscast, or sport pages, equal respect and admiration from sport fans and equal elite athlete funding,” he said. Speaking after the launch, Technical director of women’s football in T&T, Even Pellerud, shared that his team, which is currently in camp until the end of the World Cup, is training hard and things are going well.”