The curtains descended on the inaugural Inter District Primary Schools Female Football competition on Friday, May 17 at the SAB Sporting Facility. District Six emerged champions following a hard fought come from behind 2-1 victory over District One who were confident of victory. Throughout the morning and afternoon their players chanted “District One Number One.” However on this occasion they were clearly number two and not number one.
In the first semifinal, District One defeated District Eight 1 – 0, with the lone goal scored by Nina Moses in the 10th minute. The other semifinal saw District Six prevailing over District Four 3 – 1. Scoring for District 6 were, Jerdel Emery in the 2nd and 10th minute and Kersheema Ince in the 12th minute.
Kayla Samuel pulled one back for District Four in the 6th minute. In the Third Place Play Off, District Eight emerged victorious with 3 – 1 victory over District Four. They owed their win to goals by Amaya Emmanuel in the 9th minute, Theon Auguste in the 12th minute and Tiana Lamontagne in the 15th minute.
Clowie William scored for District Four in the 2nd minute. Ironically this match featured the zonal winners. Once again, District Six continue to maintain their dominance in Primary Schools Sporting activity as they defeated District One 2 – 1 in the grand final. They got their goals from Jerdel Emery and Kersheema Ince, while Nina Moses got the lone goal for District One.
Indeed it was a fitting climax to a successful tournament in which the young lasses gave a very good account of themselves. Congratulations to all the six participating Districts for making the inaugural tournament the success it turned out to be.
Following the final there was a brief prize giving ceremony. Physical Education Teacher at the Gordon and Walcott Methodist School, Christopher Duncan along with his colleague Melissa John were the coordinators for the Girls Primary Schools Football competition on behalf of the St Lucia Football Association Inc.
During his brief remarks, Duncan thanked everyone for attending the final day of competition and said, “it has a been a long road, a hard road but we are here.”
Education Officer District One, Cyrus Cepal congratulated all the girls in the first ever Inter-District Girls Football Competition and said: “I just want to affirm our commitment from the Ministry of Education standpoint along with the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports to the St Lucia Football Association, to let them know we will not let them down. We will continue to participate in this tournament, realizing that sports and education must go together. They are one. You cannot have education and say you do not have sports.”
He pointed sending a child to school and telling them they can’t participate in sports is a thing of the past. Cepal said: “That was 20 years ago, 40 years ago but now in this era we have to be able to marry the two. Sports and education really work together. At the Ministry of Education we support that and I want to let you know that parents who have not subscribed to this view, just simply try to understand and see the success in sports now. Have a look at our national athletes and see how far they are reaching.”
Following his remarks these individual awards were presented: Best Defender, Mickege Francis; Golden Boots, Clowie Williams; Best Striker, Jerdel Emery; Best Midfielder, Amir Emmanuel; Best Goal Keeper, Nieasha Edward. The first place team District Six, second place District One and third place finishers District Eight received trophies and medals.
