Month: December 2018

CONIFA seeking volunteer Women’s Football Director

Posted on by Robin Toal

CONIFA is seeking a Women’s Football Director for immediate placement.

The Women’s Football Director will be in charge of stimulating the growth of women’s football across the network of CONIFA members, working with and leading a Women’s Football Committee.

The role will involve assisting members with existing women’s football programmes with the running of their programmes but also assisting member FAs without a current women’s football programme in setting one up.
The focal point for the Women’s Football Director will be organising a CONIFA Women’s World Football Cup in 2019, or 2020 at latest.

The position is voluntary (as are all CONIFA positions) and is remote with the expectation to attend monthly Skype calls and to communicate progress regularly to other members of the CONIFA Executive Committee.

Hours per week: 5-10 hours recommended but at the discretion of the Director to set a working schedule that is manageable around other commitments.

The main tasks will be:

• Liaising with all CONIFA members to ascertain the current status of women’s football.
• Assisting in the creation of short, medium and long-term plans for development of women’s football by CONIFA member FAs.
• Providing assistance to member FAs in overcoming barriers to development – these may include lack of equipment, lack of opportunity for competition, lack of coaching expertise etc.
• Helping create a community of active women’s football teams within CONIFA and encouraging communication between their FAs with an eye to future competition and sharing experiences.
• Searching for a suitable host FAs for competitions, starting with the Women’s World Football Cup.

When taking on this very challenging role, the Women’s Football Director will be assisted by a team of fellow volunteers and can expect the support of a dedicated team of CONIFA ExCo members.

Useful skills:

• Knowledge of what CONIFA does and why and the obstacles its members may face.
• Coaching qualifications or experience.
• Strong organisational skills, event management.
• Grant writing / fund-raising skills.

What you will get from the role:

• Exciting chance to get experience in football development, working in a progressive, growing organisation using football for social empowerment.
• A chance to make a real impact in women’s football development in some of the world’s most challenging and rewarding environments.
• A unique opportunity to gain experience in international relations and sports administration.

However, enthusiasm and a desire to make a positive change in the world of women’s football is most important. We understand that as a voluntary position the Director will need to balance paid work commitments and are completely flexible in terms of working hours.

The position is voluntary (as with all CONIFA roles)

Please email a CV and a cover letter explaining why you would like to become the CONIFA Women’s Football Director to generalsecretary@conifa.org

CONIFA is dedicated to equality and diversity and we welcome applications from a diverse range of people, respecting and drawing on different perspectives, skills, experience and knowledge.

Strong Foundations for Somaliland’s Sporting Future

Posted on by Robin Toal

When UK sporting equipment company Harrod Sport read about the plight of the Somaliland team, it wanted to step up and assist…

Wembley, Paris St Germain’s Parc des Princes, the Stade de France and Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu stadium all have them. So do most Premier League clubs. And now, so will the Somaliland national stadium in Hargeysa.

What do they have, you might well ask? Well, all of these famous grounds and clubs have their goals and posts supplied by Harrod Sport – one of the UK’s top manufacturers of sporting equipment, who’ve been making top-quality kit since 1954. And when the company read about the plight of the Somaliland team on BBC Sport, they simply couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

Kate Pasque, Harrod Sport’s sales and marketing executive, said, “We couldn’t not get involved with something we believed would help Somaliland and the future of football there.”

Somaliland is a member of CONIFA and has long struggled for recognition as a team in its own right. The region is an independent state, but is not recognised as such by any other country; Somalia still declares Somaliland as an autonomous region. The BBC Sport article highlighted the difficulties faced by those assisting the football teams in the area; working in a region where poverty is rife and people get by on an average wage of $347 a year.

Football is trying to change all of that, and news that the Somaliland national set-up is due to receive – free of charge – Harrod 3G Stadium Goals, along with a Harrod 3G Hanging Net Support system, a bottom-hinged net support and box net is incredibly exciting for those aiming to improve things for the local footballers. Ilyas Mohamed, founder and president of the Somaliland Football Association explains: “This donation means a lot to the development of football in Somaliland. Since the Somaliland Football Association was formed, we have sparked and spearheaded the modernisation of football in Somaliland. This donation will help us make hosting international matches in Somaliland a reality. The goals currently installed at the national stadium in Hargeysa or elsewhere in the country do not fit international requirements.”

It’s a remarkably generous gesture from the company, who have recently set up The Ron Harrod Foundation. The foundation provides funding for sportspeople under 25 to help them continue to compete in their chosen sport, and while it’s currently only available to those based in Norfolk and Suffolk, the company aim to to expand over the years to assist multiple young athletes across the UK.

And while The Ron Harrod Foundation might be focused on UK-based talent, worldwide causes such as the Somaliland team are also where the company can see its help having true on-the-ground effects.

Kate Pasque explains. “The quote in the BBC Sport article, ‘We think every young person should have the opportunity to play football’ really rung true with us at Harrod Sport. We had no intention of stretching our funding pot further this year, especially halfway across the world! However, reading that one in 11 children in Somaliland do not survive to their fifth birthday made us all at the company want to help in any way we could to give hope to the children for their future and their future in football. Providing equipment to a pitch that children will strive to play on, and, in turn, inspiring hope, is everything The Ron Harrod Foundation represents.

“At Harrod Sport, we are hopeful that with the addition of our Stadium Goals, we can contribute to the tireless work of everyone involved with the Somaliland national team and CONIFA and, in a small way, help Somaliland go on to represent themselves at an international level, bringing happiness to the country.”

Ilyas Mohamed has no doubt this is the case. “The association is very grateful to The Ron Harrod Foundation. It’s a wonderful and generous donation. We are excited about the future and cannot wait to host Somaliland’s first international match on home soil.

“With these goals we hope to continue inspiring a nation, a new generation to use football as a way to communicate and connect with the rest of the world.”