JFF moving to keep women’s programme afloat

The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) is looking at ways to keep its female programme afloat as women's football across the world is being forced to cut back because of the economic downturn brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Michael Ricketts, the president of the JFF, said his administration is looking to run its men's and women's programmes concurrently in order to reduce costs and promote the women's game.

"We are thinking of running both programmes simultaneously. For instance, we are looking to have international friendly matches for both teams on the same day. And also to have the woman's Premier League at the same time as the men's," Ricketts explained.

Contingency plans

"The coronavirus is affecting the entire world so each member association must, as long as you maintain an interest in woman's football, put some contingency plans in place. The JFF is no different ... we were in the World Cup just months ago, and we have to find a way to maintain it (the programme). Our men's programme is really the standard- bearer, but we certainly have to use our men's programme to try and market the woman's game."

Ricketts said that he expects that the administration will find it hard to secure sponsorship post COVID-19, and therefore he is hoping that these plans will allow the women's programme to continue to thrive.

"We are aware that to get sponsorship is going to be a real challenge, but it is a challenge for our marketing and financial teams to rise to," Ricketts explained.

Last month, world football's governing body, FIFA, announced that it will go ahead with its plan to pump US$1 billion into the women's game between 2019 and 2022.

But even after that, several Europeans clubs were forced to slash their women's programmes because of financial constraints.

Earlier this week, Britain's women's national league team AFC Fylde was disbanded as a result of the pandemic.