Busby: Girlz need investment to improve

NATIONAL WOMEN’S senior football coach, Hubert Busby Jr, believes that, over the last seven years, Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz have been closing the gap on regional powerhouse and world champions the United States (US).

However, he said it will take far more improvements before the Girlz can really compete on an equal footing with the North Americans.

The Reggae Girlz and the US have met three times at the senior level. Their first meeting came in a 2008 Olympic Games qualifiers, which resulted in a 6-0 win for the Americans. The teams met again in the Concacaf women’s championships in 2018 and the Americans registered a similar score.

When they last played, earlier this year in an international friendly, the game ended 4-0 in favour of the US.

“We are chipping away at them (US) and one of the things is to have our players playing in professional clubs and the younger ones are in good college programmes,” said Busby Jr. “So, over the last seven years, we have expanded our pool of players and we now have a base in the younger age groups that are going to push to get into the senior group.

“So we have that pool that can continue to play at a high standard that has closed the gap. So the gap is closing, but we are not where we should be, although we are making some strides,” he said.

Continuing, Busby Jr said they are working hard to make the Reggae Girlz one of the top female football nations in the world.

“We want our teams to be amongst the top countries in the world, but it is going to take a collective effort. The 25 years headstart the US had in women’s football development, we can close that if we invest accordingly,” he explained. “It is not about bridging the gap, but putting that investment in place which allows for that gap to close.”

A PERFECT EXAMPLE

The Dutch, he pointed out, are a perfect example of how strong investment and general support can transform a team into world-beaters, and he said Jamaica must invest similarly.

“Holland has gone from being outside the world’s top 50 to number 10 in a few years, because they invested heavily over 10 to 15 years developing women’s football. The federation did their part, the professional clubs did their part, and the government did their part to provide opportunities,” he reasoned.

“Nothing happens on its own, you need clubs to provide opportunities for young girls,” he said. “Do the (local) premier league clubs have women’s teams? Are the teams below them putting in women’s teams? Is the government giving continued support and is corporate Jamaica giving support and helping?

“There is not just one thing that will make us close the gap. There are a lot of factors other than just the football. Everyone’s looking and pointing the finger, naturally at the federation, but the US federation is not solely responsible for the US being number one,” Busby Jr observed.

“It is also all the clubs and corporate USA that allows them to be one of the best in the world,” he added.

The Reggae Girlz were ranked 128 in 2010, but, since 2018, during the heights of their historic World Cup qualification in 2019, they have maintained a top 60 position in the FIFA rankings. They are currently ranked 51st in the world.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm