JERSEY’S Sports Minister has called on Islanders to ‘get out and about’ and ‘support local businesses’ ahead of this Sunday’s Women’s World Cup final.
And the captain of the Jersey women’s football team has said she hopes the tournament will encourage corporate sponsorship and investment in women’s clubs, which are ‘brimming at the seams’ with new players.
Several hundred Islanders went to the new ‘fan zone’ at Liberty Wharf, which featured 55-inch LED screens, seating and al-fresco dining areas, to watch England’s thrilling 3-1 semi-final victory over rivals Australia.
Assistant Economic Development Minister Lucy Stephenson, who has responsibility for sport and was behind the Liberty Wharf initiative, has confirmed that the fan zone will re-open on Sunday for the 11am kick-off against Spain.
She said: ‘There will be some improvements and extra capacity. In addition to the restaurants which opened their outdoor areas today, Vittoria will open. The plan isn’t to move it anywhere else, but to keep that fan zone with some extra capacity.’
She said: ‘It’s a great opportunity at the weekend for Islanders and visitors to get out and about, support local businesses and get together in the community with friends and family.
‘Yesterday’s events showed that it’s not just about the size of the screen you watch it on, it’s about who you watch it with and where you watch it. The atmosphere for an event like this is really powerful, and we do want to encourage people to get out and about.’
She added that the investment in a fan zone, which cost less than £10,000 to put together, ‘shows that, as a government, we are keen to support women’s sport’.
Deputy Stephenson has also recently founded a women’s sport network which she said was intended to ‘bring together women who are involved in sport in the Island, whether that’s athletes or coaches, to share ideas and opportunities’.
‘It’s great that the buzz is there for women’s football, but now what do we do with it? We need to capitalise on it,’ she said.
Libby Barnett, captain of the Jersey women’s team, said the fan zone was ‘a really fantastic community space’.
‘We hope that opportunities like this to put sport, particularly women’s sport, on the big screen to get the community down in support will be a regular thing,’ she said. ‘It’s fantastic to see lots of people down here today and hopefully it will be bigger and better for Sunday.’
Miss Barnett said she had seen an ‘impact’ from the tournament on ‘junior girls’ and that the three local clubs which provided girls-only opportunities – Jersey Wanderers, Rozel Rovers and St Lawrence – were ‘brimming at the seams with girls who want to play.’
She continued: ‘Investment needs to come from sponsors. Unfortunately, non-profit organisations like the Jersey FA don’t have reams and reams of money, and sport lives and survives through corporate investment, so that’s where we hope the interest and enthusiasm will come from in order to invest into local football, into the women’s game and women’s sport in general. We can only see it growing from here.’
