British Football Coach with the Women’s League in England

[Anguillan newsboy]

The British Football Coach with the Women’s League in England has praised the Anguilla Football ***ociation for its work and uniqueness on the island.

Ms Powell made the comment while on a visit to the Anguilla Football ***ociation, as part of a tour of the region to make an ***essment and overview of the status of women’s football in the Caribbean. Her objective was to see what lessons each federation could learn from each other to improve standards throughout the Caribbean Football Union.

“I work as a FIFA Instructor and my role is to ***ess the level of development in the Caribbean and see how we can help to improve standards of the game,” she told The Anguillian. “I am really impressed. I came here with Harold Taylor, who knows the region quite well and he said to me that I would be very impressed with the Anguilla FA. I think it is unique. I think a lot of very positive work has been done. They have a great structure, a great set up and I think lessons can be learnt from Anguilla and used in other football ***ociations throughout the Caribbean.”

She was confident however that there were some areas in which she could offer some helpful advice. These included advising in some situations among clubs with respect to ensuring that girls turn up regularly for training and p***ing on some of her experience and ideas. She was pleased to have met with local football coach Colin Johnson and to have advised him on certain areas of improvement.

Ms. Powell observed that football was among the top female sports in Anguilla and many people had invested in the games. “I think football is on the right path and the work that is being done is embraced by the country which is really important and it is unique,” she stated.

Asked what advice she would give young footballers in Anguilla, especially female players, the English Football official replied: “I would encourage them to stay in the game. In women’s football, there are lots of opportunities to be paid; there are scholarships in America. If they do well at school, there is an opportunity to travel in avenues of referees, coaching and administration. I would encourage all players to stay in the game and reap some of the benefits.”

President of the Anguilla Football ***ociation, Raymond Guishard, commented that following Ms Powell’s ***essment in Anguilla, FIFA would be in a position to better understand the local needs and “to give us what we actually want and not what they think that we want.”