Horn Cable TV made a visit to one of the soccer courts in Hargeisa, Friday, where the first all-girls’ soccer team was going through one of their practice sessions.
Fardus Jama, the coach, was there to oversee and improve the girls’ moves on and off the playground.
“We have started this team – or rather club – as a bodybuilding, aerobics, and gymnastics exercise,” Fardus said. “The idea that we can combine many of these moves on the football ground later caught up with us – and there you are! We have turned into the first women’s team in soccer”.
Fardus added that the only hitch that has prevented them bloom into a fully-fledged football club is the absence of private soccer grounds for women where they can safely and confidently play among themselves.
Aisha Hassan, a member of the team, said, they were thrilled that they and Fardus found one another.
“Fardus as a coach gives us the kind of motivation to go on as the very first team of its kind in Somaliland,” Aisha said.Aisha added that they looked forward to a stage where they took part in tournaments in the country and in the region.
“Playing ball has saved us much time in the gym where one went through preset movements on one machine or another. Here we have the field and a whole set of moves and exercises that we are comfortable with,” she added.
The coach said the ministry of youth and sports, thus far, welcomed their incursion into the soccer world, and that they had high hopes of blossoming into a formidable branch of Somaliland sports to be reckoned with.
Other members of this pioneer, indomitable team include Wiam, Nasra, Najma, Hawa, Nasrin, Nimo, Aisha-Hamda, Leila, Muna, and Hodon.
The world of women’s soccer, in recent years, has seen great feats, collected coveted awards through mega stars such as Nadine Angerer, Lily Kristine, Sun Wen, Abby Wambach, Mia Hamm, Marta, Christine Sinclair, Michelle Akers, Homare Sawa, and Brigit Prinz.
Marta Viera Da Silva in action
On the footsteps of women clubs out there in the developed world, rising stars are fast emerging in Africa and, particularly, in Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya. The on-going Cecafa Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) tournament and other matches in recent years have brought of that talent to the surface.
Asisat Oshoala, Nigeria (above) is among the world’s 25 women soccer greats to watch.
Clearly, the present Somaliland lineup would, at the least, serve as a motivator for women’s soccer in Somaliland in the next few years.
