MELBOURNE, Australia — Jamaica‘s Women’s World Cup run is perhaps over for now, however the staff’s combat for help again residence continues.
The Reggae Girlz have been disbanded 15 years in the past when the Jamaican federation minimize funding for the staff. Revived in 2014, they’ve scrapped for assets ever since.
Jamaica‘s efficiency on the world event in Australia and New Zealand could also be turning that round. The Reggae Girlz turned the primary Caribbean nation to achieve the knockout spherical, advancing in simply their second look.
The marketing campaign got here to an finish on Tuesday night time when Jamaica fell to Colombia 1-0 in Melbourne. Catalina Usme’s aim was the one one which the Reggae Girlz conceded over the course of the event.
“We’ve put ourselves on the map and we’ve showed what we can actually do,” goalkeeper Becky Spencer mentioned. “I think with more funding and more resources, it just shows you what kind of team that we’ve got and we can only get better. I’m hoping that the federation starts to take us seriously and just pays attention to what we’re doing out here.”
Reggae legend Bob Marley’s daughter, Cedella Marley, heard in regards to the staff’s plight in 2014, and has since served because the staff’s ambassador and fundraiser. The Bob Marley basis is without doubt one of the staff’s sponsors.
PHOTOS: Jamaica’s Women’s World Cup ends, however their combat for help continues
Despite her efforts, the Reggae Girlz nonetheless struggled to arrange for the World Cup after qualifying final 12 months. Ahead of the event, Khadija “Bunny” Shaw and Cheyna Matthews posted a prolonged assertion on social media.
“On multiple occasions, we have sat down with the federation to respectfully express concerns resulting from subpar planning, transportation, accommodations, training conditions, compensation, communication, nutrition and accessibility to proper resources,” the assertion mentioned. “We have also showed up repeatedly without receiving contractually agreed upon compensation.”
The publish spurred a pair of crowdfunding campaigns to assist the staff pay for a pre-tournament camp and help workers.
The Jamaican Football Federation launched a press release lamenting that such efforts took away focus from the staff’s historic achievement – whereas on the identical time welcoming the monetary help.
“I think we showed what we can do with little support,” Matthews mentioned, including that the staff might achieve this rather more with extra preparation, video games and competitors.
Jamaica coach Lorne Donaldson mentioned after the staff performed within the 2019 Women’s World Cup nothing modified. He famous that this 12 months the Reggae Girlz had no worldwide video games in six months main as much as the event.
“Hopefully we all can come together now and try to figure something out,” Donaldson mentioned. “We have some decent young players, so we can have a decent transition … and start preparing for the future tomorrow.”
The Reggae Girlz don’t have a lot time to regroup following the loss. Next month they’ll play Canada in Toronto for the second CONCACAF spot in subsequent 12 months’s Paris Olympics. The United States already secured the opposite berth.
Canada acquired knocked out of the World Cup within the group stage.
“I think we’ll kind of have momentum,” Jamaica‘s Chantelle Swaby mentioned. “I think we still have momentum even though we lost. And obviously with Canada’s result it will be a great challenge because they’ll be hungry to win. We’ll be just as hungry to compete.”
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com