Jamaica’s women’s football team is creating waves at the FIFA World Cup as the Reggae Girlz keep writing their own with their amazing run in Australia and New Zealand.

So far, the Jamaican flagbearers have made history by becoming the first nation from the English-speaking Caribbean to qualify for the global showpiece for the France 2019 edition. They again rewrote the history books by qualifying for back-to-back tournaments.

But it doesn’t stop there.

In Australia, the Girlz earned their first-ever point when they drew with highly-ranked France — another piece of history. They continued their historic run by registering their first win by defeating Concacaf rivals Panama 1-0, and followed that up by making it to the knockout round after holding fancied Brazil 0-0 on Wednesday.

Each of those moments have brought tears to the eyes of June Cover-Simpson — thought to be Jamaica’s first Reggae Girl.

She cried when Jamaica’s first female team was formed and heard the National Anthem and decades later she is shedding tears again for the love of her country.

“I remember when Jamaica qualified in 2019, I was coaching at a game at Vaz Prep and I didn’t remember I was coaching, trust me,” Cover-Simpson told the Jamaica Observer.

“Later, someone saw me and said ‘are you going to France?’ and I said ‘no’, and he said, ‘you should be because I remembered you as a little girl that started women’s football’,” she added.

The 58-year-old Cover-Simpson was integral in the forming of women’s football in Jamaica in the 1970s and her rare talent drew the attention of footballers, Ambassador Stewart Stephenson, Arthur Lattimore, Keith Lattimore, Carl Brown and journalist Bob West, who travelled to see this unique talent people were talking about.

“I grew up as a ‘tomboy’ playing with the boys in the Liguanea area and I was at home one day and two men drove up and say, ‘see the balla deh’, and Bob West say ‘no, it can’t be she, no girl in Jamaica can play football’,” Cover-Simpson recalled.

Cover-Simpson said she was put through a juggling test by West who was working with INSPORTS on the spot, which she passed with flying colours.

She was featured in the Daily News and word began to spread about this little gem of a footballer who “salad the boys for fun”. ‘Salad’ is a Jamaican term for the nutmeg move and is accomplished when they ball is slipped between the legs of an opponent without losing possession.

Cover-Simpson was then taken to a football game by Lattimore, and to her surprise, a large crowd turned out to see her play. After impressing, Stephenson took her to National Stadium as one of the “ball boys” and had difficulty getting in as a girl. But the country would witness her talent.

“At half-time the boys ran out on the field and were kicking the ball around and I remembered controlling a high ball and heard the stadium shout out ‘dead’, a slang used for exceptional control of the ball.”

Then young June Cover was approached by Andrea Lewis who told her she wanted to start a female team and the search began all over the city.

Ironically, it was at Boys’ Town in the 1980s that they ended up forming the first female team called Wild Cats who were playing against boys as curtain-raisers at premier league games.

Then the girls started to branch off and form other female teams. Wild Cats then became United Strikers and later adopted by Jamaican-born English player John Barnes and were renamed John Barnes United and they won the league.

With this, the Reggae Girlz team was formed and onto World Cup qualifiers, but Cover had to miss Jamaica’s trip to Haiti because she got pregnant.

But she would return for the other campaign and it was joy unconfined representing Jamaica under Coach Winston Chung Fah despite leaving the qualifiers conceding 22 goals in three games against giants USA, Canada and Mexico.

“At that time we were just given some sweat suits and once we went into the cold, it was hell. But I can tell you it was an honour representing my country and when I heard the anthem tears came to my eyes just knowing where we were coming from as the only girl in football to having a female team,” said Cover-Simpson.

She recalled rubbing shoulders with American great Michelle Akers, known as the female Pele at the time, and Mia Hamm.

“I am extra proud of this current team. I admire Bunny Shaw as she reminds me of myself. Blackwood makes me wake up and stay up watching the game against France,” said Cover-Simpson laughing.

“She was like a warrior and transferred her energy to the rest of the team. She has my heart. I am not overlooking anybody but it was because of her,” she noted.

Cover-Simpson coaches at Vaz Prep for the last 35 years where she is imparting her knowledge to the young footballers. However, she is still trying to form an all-female football team at Vaz.