Grange Committed to Women’s Premier League

Kingston, January 26, 2016 – Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the
Honourable Olivia Grange, has pledged continued support to the Women’s Football Premier
League.

The Ministry, through the Sports Development Foundation, stepped in to save the league last
year when it did not attract sponsorship.

The Ministry had committed to give sponsorship support for one year. “But if I have anything to
do with it, it won’t be [a one-off support],” said Minister Grange on Wednesday (yesterday) at
the women’s league awards ceremony at the Jamaica Football Federation Headquarters.

Minister Grange expressed disappointment that women’s sports have not been able to attract
sufficient sponsorship. While she called on corporate Jamaica to change its position regarding
women’s sports, Minister Grange said it was important for her to lead by example.

Accordingly, the Minister announced a new policy position to increase financial support of
women’s sports. As a result, the Ministry (through the SDF) will continue support of the
Women’s Football Premier League.

In the meantime, the Minister has urged the leadership of sports associations to do more to
support women’s sports.

Minister Grange said:
“We have to go out there and campaign for our women in sport, we have to pound the
pavement, knock on doors and draw on our network of women in the private sector, our
network of women in the media, and the network of women who are very active in
sports. We are going to have to go out there and say to all those women, ‘please go out
there and get the men to give us the support’”.

Minister Grange congratulated all the players who participated in the 2016 JFF/SDF Women’s
Football League and made special mention of the champions, Barbican FC.