THE Guyana Football Federation will be fielding a team in the CONCACAF female Under-19 World Cup qualifying football tournament in Antigua, departing tomorrow, in spite of the many views opposing such participation.

Many contend that such a move would only further embarrass Guyana in the football fraternity because there have been no structured women’s football for many years.

The opposition may be justified because of what has already been happening to teams more prepared than Guyana.

Jamaica annihilated Grenada, 21-0, and Trinidad & Tobago devastated the Bahamas, 13-0, in their zone qualifying series; what then will happen to a hastily mustered Guyana team?

The first practice match was on December 18, last year, when they came up against Western Lions senior female team. They lost that 1-0.

On Friday, the nationals came up against a Buxton Under-17 boys’ side and lost 1-0.

The only match they did not lose was one against a combined Under-14 side, drawing 0-0, on Tuesday.

A final practice match was fixed for yesterday, with the female nationals meeting an Under-15 boys’ team of the Triton Sports & Fitness Club of Melanie at Buxton ground.

The results so far, should not be surprising. It was only November 5, last year, that the GFF announced in a release: “Female footballers in Guyana will be involved in active rivalry once again as the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) continues its development programme for the game locally.

Guyana will be competing against teams from the Caribbean for a place in the 2002 women’s Under-19 World Cup finals scheduled for Canada. The hosts are automatic finalists, leaving only two other slots available for the CONCACAF region.

The GFF appointed a team, including Dr Monica Benn and Lynden France, to spearhead arrangements for Guyana’s participation.

Trials to select the squad were billed for Georgetown that weekend, with the main “catchment” areas involved being Lethem, Bartica, Linden and Georgetown.

Selected players were to be encamped at the Buxton Community Centre, East Coast Demerara, and practice sessions were conducted at the Buxton Community Centre ground.

Before the trials, the only time that a female team donned the GFF uniform was for the visit of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, which many persons would surely like to forget because of the embarrassment to the country.

At media conference shortly after, Minister of Sport Gail Teixeira said: “I do not agree with any of the national teams going abroad when they are not prepared. I disagree absolutely with put-together teams.”

The minister added: “There are teams going abroad who are not prepared, they are not being trained properly, but we want to send them abroad for exposure. That’s not good enough. We are not setting standards of excellence.”

One year before that, Minister Teixeira asked the Kashif & Shanghai Organisation to feature women footballers during the Christmas Football Festival of 2000.

Last year, the Ministry of Sport sponsored and assist the Rupununi Football Association to stage a competition, but beside that nothing of note went on in the country from which a viable team could be selected.

Guyana are in Group B that has host Antigua/Barbuda, Suriname and Dominica. The local team’s success is anyone’s guess.

The touring party comprises 18 players and five officials. Two of the officials are two female teachers who did the FIFA Level 1 coaching course, last year. The other two coaches are Andrew Grogan and Terry Plummer, with Roderick Trotman as the manager.