Following the appointment of women’s development officer Charlene Lockington, the Fiji FA were investigating ways of developing the game among females. Tapping into the secondary schools proved to be the perfect move.
Over the past two months more than 700 players have been introduced to the world game, with participants in the competition coming from 37 schools in the Southern, Western and Northern Divisions of Fiji.
The competition is now heading into the final phases which will see the four top teams battle it out in Ba as they look to claim the title.
AD Patel and Kamil Muslim College from the Western Division have booked their spots in the National Secondary School U-16 competition which will be held at the National Football Academy in Ba. They will be joined by Adi Cakobau and Vashist Muni from the Southern Division.
The four teams will play a round-robin format with the top two sides going into the final on Saturday.
Fiji FA technical director Farouk Janeman says this inaugural competition is just the beginning, with many moves for positive growth of the women’s game in Fiji planned for the future.
“To fast track women’s football in the country the secondary schools needed to be involved,” Janeman says.
“Over the years the secondary school competition has been successfully developing male players and it could do the same for the women’s code. The technical department decided to concentrate on the U-16 level this year as we believe this was the right category to gauge the players and look at the ways and means to develop them further.”
The competition is also expected to help identify players who will come together to compete in the OFC Women’s U-17 Championship in early 2014, the qualifying event for the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2014.
“The World Cup playoffs are not our ultimate target but a pathway for these young players to represent the senior women’s national side,” he says.
“We are thankful to the various school principals and management for their support and allowing us to promote women’s football. The Fiji FA board, headed by Rajesh Patel, have been huge supporters of the event and the parents cannot be forgotten either as it is through their approval the girls were released to participate.”
For more on Fiji football go to www.fijifootball.com.fj

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