One Night at the Mecca

One Night at the Mecca

By Delroy Nesta Williams

MVP Britney "Tear Drop" Stoute

For all the talk about the World Cup and most of Dominica (including me) being glued to the televisions 3 times a day for the matches in Brazil, most of us (not me)missed one  of the best initiatives in the sport on the evening of June 21, 2014.

As a member of a Facebook group (Dominica Football Fans), I spend hours at a time every week discussing and debating everything possible with relation to football. When I say everything, I mean everything. We debate issues from as simple as Ronaldo’s millions to the complexity of the local football structure’s inabilities (perceived and actual).

But this post isn’t about the group, no, no, no… it’s actually about women’s football in Dominica. You see every now and then (quite often actually), we lament the fact that not enough is being done for the sport and particularly at the youth level.

Inner-City All Stars with Manager Wayne "Benji N2O" Benjamin

Last night though, I ventured to Newtown where Sports-Maggz, with the assistance of numerous sponsors, organized an All-Star women’s match. All-Star games in Dominica? Isn’t that something reserved to the NBA and basketball? Well not last night… and thank God it wasn’t too.

It is one thing to gauge the development of a sport when you’re watching teams with one or two good players surrounded by role players. It is a totally different experience when you gather the best players to fill up two teams and play each other. When you get the cream of the crop to play together and against each other, it’s a thing of beauty; from the cross-field daggers (passes) of Britney Stoute, the statuesque goalkeeping of Kimberley Elie to the defensive prowess of Cora Francis. The goals were noteworthy especially the long distance strike that sealed the victory from a Pottersville young lady. I am still thinking about strike as it left her foot from the right wing (just outside the 18 yard box) to rocket passed the defense and goal keeper to strike the back post and ricochet back out. I turned to fellow spectators; they too were overjoyed by the goal and its power and precision. And they should know football after having represented Dominica at various levels in the game.

Outer-City All Stars with Manager Julian "Juju" Wade

The game wasn’t without its blunders or its mental lapses but apart from that, the ladies put on a show worthy of a repeat game. What I lament was the size of the crowd though, too small. I am not sure what the advertizing budget was or if there was any, but I am hoping that future matches will see more support from the Dominican populace.

Hats off to Sports-Maggz and everyone involved. It was surely a great initiative.