f Paria - Ins and Outs of Trinidad & Tobago 2013

The Trinidad
experience
Anthony Harris
Women’s Footballby Sheldon Waithe
Nine years after successfully hosting
the FIFA Under-17s Men’s World Cup,
Trinidad and Tobago will once again host
an international football competition.
This time it is the Women’s Under-
17 tournament that will take place
in the football-frenzied nation. From
September 5–25, 2010, the world’s best
young women will compete at the stadia
in Arima, Bacolet, Couva, Marabella
and Port of Spain. These same venues
were built or refurbished for the 2001
men’s tournament, highlighting the
professionalism and seriousness with
which T&T has approached the regular
hosting of international competition.
The World Cup also allows the chance of
a lasting legacy for the women’s game
in the Caribbean, something that FIFA’s
Trinidadian Vice President, Jack Warner,
remarked upon at the September 2009
Hyatt Regency gala unveiling of the eyecatching
Women’s Under-17 logo, which
incorporates the steelpan, tassa drum
and a football. Ironically, the infectious
rhythm of the tassa drum has long
been the instrument of choice of the
Trinbagonian football fan.
As stars of the traditional powerhouses
in the women’s game such as Brazil,
Canada and the USA lent support at
the logo launch, it was evident that
the expertise of both FIFA and the
Local Organising Committee (LOC) were
working together to ensure that this
World Cup continues the success of the
Under-17 Cup in New Zealand in 2008.
When the New Zealand representative
passed the baton to the T&T Federation
it was more than a physical gesture, for
their own LOC are on hand to assist with
the expertise gained from hosting that
very first World Cup.
North Korea lifted that 2008 trophy
by beating the favoured U.S. squad, but
with the world’s teams still in regional
qualifying competitions for the T&T
World Cup, the final sixteen teams will
not be known until March 2010. What
is confirmed is that T&T automatically
gain a place as hosts and with the need
for a strong host-nation team to garner
further interest and feed the passion
of the T&T fan, no stone has been left
unturned to ensure local success. Even
Pellerud, who coached the Norwegian
senior team to a World Cup triumph,
is now charged with getting the T&T
team ready for what will undoubtedly
be the hardest competition of their
young careers thus far. He exudes
confidence about their ability to cope
with expectation and that the hard
work being put in a full year before the
tournament, will reap rewards come
September 2010. Linfa Cox, the T&T
goalkeeper epitomised their outlook to
not just win matches but truly change
the view of a region and world that is
quickly appreciating the joys of the
female game. “We want to change
history, and to change the way we look
at women’s football,” he emphasised.
Should the women’s counterpart of
the famous Soca Warriors deliver in
September, there is little doubt that the
sport will replicate the successful T&T
men’s teams, which has led to strong
grassroots programmes in turn creating
further progress such as the under-20
men’s team qualifying for their version
of the World Cup in 2009.
What is certain, given the spectacular
precursor that was the emblem launch,
is that T&T will put on a vibrant and
brilliant tournament. The LOC will
provide the sporting world with the
unique Carnival atmosphere that
pervades all that happens in T&T, but
especially so when we watch sport.
So, just as in 2001, pick your favourite
players and enjoy the show. All together
now, “I’m a Soooooca Warrior…”
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The Ins & Outs of Trinidad and Tobago