As part of its continuing thrust to develop the sport of football at the grass roots level, the Jamaica Football Federation in association with FIFA and Digicel will stage a Girls Grass-roots Day today at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education from 10:30 am through to 1:00 pm.

The day’s activities will continue the JFF’s programme of introducing the rudiments of the sport to girls aged 6-12.

This is the second major activity to involve girls only since the grass-roots programme was launched in May 2012. Some 100 girls from the parishes of Portland, St Thomas, St Mary and St Ann will be involved in the day’s activities.

The JFF has resolved following a FIFA Women’s Seminar in 2010 that the sport needed to be introduced to girls at an early age. The Board of Directors of the JFF subsequently mandated that 30 per cent of participants involved in the monthly grass-roots programme needed to be girls. It also mandated that the JFF take advantage of the FIFA women’s grass-roots programme. As a result some 700 girls have participated in these activities over the past year.

This is the second girls festival being staged with the assistance of FIFA. The first was held in November 2012 with some 200 girls from across the island.

The main aim of this programme is to increase girls’ participation in football and by so develop and strengthen women’s football in the country.