Local members of Jamaica’s senior Reggae Girlz team will depart the island today for a historic visit to England where they will face Nottingham Forest Ladies in a friendly game on Sunday.

The friendly is designed to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the arrival of Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks with hundreds of West Indian immigrants, mostly Jamaicans, dubbed the “Windrush generation”.

But the Reggae Girlz will also be using the contest against Nottingham Forest, who will be celebrating 153 years of existence, to bask in their historic qualification to the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup in France.

President Michael Ricketts and other members of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), along with members of the local delegation, were on Monday treated to a send-off by British High Commissioner Asif Ahmad.

Four of the six local players along with Assistant Coach Andrew Price, manager Jean Nelson, physiotherapist Ashauna Davis and equipment manager Omar Folkes were on hand to soak up the atmosphere at the intimate reception at the high commission’s Trafalgar Road base.

Ahmad expressed his delight with having members of the team to share a moment of happiness and joy ahead of the big celebrations in England.

It will be the first visit to Europe by the Reggae Girlz, who recently became the first Caribbean team to qualify for a senior women’s World Cup after a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win over Panama in the Concacaf Women’s Championships in the United States.

“We are truly delighted to share this moment of joy with you; little did we know that when I got the letter from the chairman of the Nottingham Forest Football Club, we were going to be giving you a send-off to go and play in the UK. But, of course, since then some really magical thing has happened with you qualifying for the World Cup in France in 2019.

“I am now a bit fearful because of the way you are playing now and two British teams have also qualified in England and Scotland. So we will be backing you, the Reggae Girlz, all the way until you encounter one of those two teams,” he shared, eliciting laughter from the small gathering.

“But in the spirit of football, we just love what you have achieved and we really wish you well. For us, this is a sport we love, whether we win or lose just the spectacle of the game is what we thoroughly enjoy.

“The ladies game in the UK is developing and we have to give credit for what is happening in this side of the world, because it is in the Concacaf region that the female game has taken off,” he added.

The high commissioner in lauding the Reggae Girlz’ sacrifice and commitment on the road to achieving the historic feat, urged the players to remain dedicated and focused as they still have a lot of work ahead.

“I think you are paving the way not only for your game, but I think you are inspiring Jamaica on a whole to really take this game and make a difference. So we truly wish you well when you play the Nottingham Forest Ladies and celebrate Windrush with us for what it is, which is the contribution that people from this region have made to the UK,” Ahmad noted.

On that note, Ricketts used the platform to express gratitude to those who have been integral to the Reggae Girlz success thus far, while soliciting further assistance for the programme going forward.

“When we initially got this invitation, I hoped desperately that it would have been a part of our celebration of qualifying to the World Cup and it is indeed so.

“The truth is, though, we are dying from starvation; we don’t have a dime and I have no idea how this programme is going to be continued, but we are reaching out to corporate Jamaica, we are reaching out to the Diaspora and we are reaching out to the Government. We desperately need help.

“We are really excited at the prospects that are going to unfold after our qualification, so come on board. You will certainly be very proud of whatever investment you make because these ladies are really ambassadors and the entire world will be watching,” Ricketts said.

He continued: “I have had discussions with coach [Andrew] Price and the other coaches [Hue Menzies and Lorne Donaldson], and we certainly want to be competitive in France. So the JFF wants to give as much support as we can to ensure that they are in good physical shape to represent us well.

“So we will be looking around for some practice games and we have decided that we should give the Jamaican public a chance to see these players. So we will try as best as we can to get a local game against a good team so that the girls can really show their skills.

Team: Marlo Sweatman, Christina Chang, Chinyelu Asher, Lauren Silver, Erin Mikalsen, Allyson Swaby, Alyssa Julien, Chris Ann Chambers, Shanel Spence, Shanise Foster, Tarania Clarke, Telesha Campbell, Sashana Campbell, Shanoska Young.