Maidens' jerseys trim to size before Morocco game

When the Ghana Under 17 Female National Team took to the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday, they had mathematically secured qualification to the 2016 Womens’ U-17 World Cup in Jordan, but their incredible 6-0 victory over Morocco was substantially sullied through no fault of theirs.

The Black Maidens, who been ever-present at the finals, secured the biggest-win of the second round as they beat Morocco 6-0 for a 10-0 aggregate victory.
The Coach Adotey-led side had thumped their North African counterparts by 4-0 in Rabat, albeit at the blind side of many Ghanaians, including the media.

Their victory and eventual World Cup qualification at the Accra Sports Stadium, which was suppose to be celebrated, was however marred by the manner in which it was achieved.

The gallant Maidens lined up in the first half wearing a visibly oversized all-white long sleeve jerseys which they played in throughout the half.
From the blast of the referees whistle, the discomfit of the tiny girls playing in the jumbo-size kits was apparent, and the condition clearly frustrated their effective movement on the field, struggling in through it to score only 2 goals.

The embarrassment reached a crescendo, when officials of the team had to quickly look for a pair of scissors to cut the sleeves of the jerseys in a bid to reduce the size and weight of the kits.

The handful of fans at the Accra Stadium were shocked and surprised to see the players return to the pitch in the second half wearing short-sleeved jerseys which visually appeared to have been hastily cut with scissors.

Even the Moroccan officials and players, who were neatly kitted by Adidas, looked visibly shaken at the turn of events. Nonetheless, the ill-treated Black Maidens continued with their baptism of fire, annihilating the Moroccans by a 10-0 aggregate.

Looking more comfortable and relieved, the Maidens shipped four goals in the second half to complete the rout.
The shameful series of incidents, occurred in the presence of Ghana’s Youth and Sports Minister, Nii Lante Vanderpuije, who categorically condemned the embarrassing experience, adding that his outfit will as soon as possible arrange for a meeting with the kit sponsors of the National Teams, Puma, to avert a future occurrence.
“We’ve seen the jerseys and what we are going to do is….you know the sponsors when they’re doing th Jersey they just do the jerseys one, standard but we will speak to them”, Nii Lante said.

“Possibly we can even talk to a local person who can make the jerseys fit for the teams when they arrive”.
“Between now and the tournament we have enough time to be able to talk to the sponsors to get a fit jersey for the team to use in the World Cup and not the ones that have been cut with scissors”, He added.

This is not the first time a female national side have had to use awful kits for international matches. It would be recollected that the Black Princesses were humiliated in same manner when they used larger than usual jerseys during the 2014 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada.

It took the intervention of some Ghanaians living in Canada to organise a fund raising to support the team purchase new jerseys for their third group game.
The Ghana FA has a multi-million kit sponsorship deal with German sportswear giant Puma, which dates back to January 2006.

Under the terms of the deal, Puma were to “provide kit for the Black Stars as well as all the national junior and women’s teams” but checks at the various junior national teams has revealed that such provisions are not made.

A player of the Black Maidens team who spoke to GazzettaGhana.com on condition of anonymity, decried the manner in which they are treated, saying “we usually have to make do with whatever is presented to use because we are young and cannot complain”.

“We are not sure the jerseys are meant for us, they’re not our size but that is what we used in the first leg and all the matches we have played”,
“It is not good for football, it is very heavy to play with, especially when we sweat but what can we do..I think it was even better they used scissors to cut for us because it was horrible in the first leg”. She said.

The Black Maidens are the only female National team to have won a laurel at the World Cup after winning bronze at the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup in Azerbaijan.