Jamaica's struggle for equality and respect at World Cup

SYDNEY, Australia — It’s been a Women’s World Cup where traditionally smaller teams have joined the party to upset their bigger rivals. Nigeria and Colombia have enthralled; Morocco and Philippines have recorded historic results. Jamaica have also been remarkable in drawing 0-0 with France and picking up their first World Cup win over Panama. And, on the eve of their key Group F match against Brazil, Jamaica manager Lorne Donaldson had a message for the footballing world.

“Everyone is looking at these smaller countries,” Donaldson said. “Governments and everybody, cut the bullcrap, it’s time to step up and support women’s football.” The Reggae Girlz have been one of the great stories of this tournament and are a result away from progressing to the knockout stages at the expense of one of the superpowers of Brazil or France. All this coming just six weeks after they issued a collective statement expressing their frustration at being let down by their federation, a familiar story echoed by Nigeria and South Africa among others.

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As they prepare for a historic night in Melbourne, there’s a collective will to make further history.

“The message that we want to send has always been the same, that women’s football is legitimate,” centre-back Allyson Swaby said after Panama. “We’re here to compete. This is our livelihood. It’s the thing that brings us joy, it’s our passion. That’s really the message, this is the ultimate honour for us and we’re also going to be fighting and pushing to be treated like we feel that we should.”

And watching all the way on their journey are their ever-growing number of fans around the world — no more so than Cedella Marley, the daughter of reggae icon Bob Marley, who has been an indispensable supporter of the team.

“These young women have been tested off the pitch in ways that [thankfully] not many teams at this World Cup have,” Cedella told ESPN. “At key points they had to stand as a unit against various opponents and, when they did that, they triumphed. Their strength is in their ability to block out the noise and stick together.”

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To understand the feats of the Reggae Girlz at this World Cup, you have to understand where their story started. When you watch the likes of Khadija “Bunny” Shaw running at opposition defences, and goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer stopping everything thrown her way, you need to think about to an important piece of paper.

Back in late 2008, the team was disbanded because the Jamaican Football Federation (JFF) was unable to continue funding the women’s programme, even though the men’s team continued. In 2014, Cedella Marley was sitting at home when her son, Skip, came home from school with a flyer. It was from his football coach, asking for parents to consider donating some money to get the Jamaica women’s programme up and running again.

Cedella hadn’t realised the team was no longer playing. While there were girls’ programmes, there was no senior pathway: the team therefore didn’t even have a FIFA ranking. She wanted to do something about it. Football ran in her blood — her father Bob was a huge fan of the sport, and that was passed on to her.

“People were saying no to [the women], and it was for no reason,” Cedella told ESPN in 2019. “The more I got involved, the angrier I got.”

So she started looking at how to fund the team and get them back on their feet. She produced a single called “Strike Hard” with her brothers Damien and Steve, they put together a GoFundMe page, and the team had the Bob Marley Foundation as its sponsor. The funding provided the foundations to get the women’s team back on the field, but in 2016 the team was again disbanded by the JFF.

Cedella again stepped up, called for an overhaul of the governance of the JFF, facilitated the appointment of Hue Menzies as their head coach (partly on a voluntary basis), but became less of a visible presence as she wanted the narrative of the team to focus on their on-field talent.

“Since March 2014, my title has been Global Ambassador of the Jamaica Women’s Football program,” Cedella tells ESPN. “When I was asked by Capt. Horace Burrell (then president of the JFF; now deceased), it was supposed to be about raising money and support for the program. I had no idea how much it would evolve. My involvement is determined by what is happening at that moment. We’ve raised money, travelled with the team to tournaments, planned camps, etc. At this point it’s so much more than any one title could encompass.”

The team qualified for the 2019 Women’s World Cup, making history as the first Caribbean nation to achieve that feat in the women’s game. They had Cedella at the forefront of their mind throughout and continue to do so.

“She’s brought life back to the program, you know, I mean, it was almost dead,” Jamaica midfielder Chinyelu Asher, who was part of the 2019 World Cup squad, tells ESPN. “She’s been a warrior for us, she’s kind of been our like fairy godmother too. She shows up, which is very important. And knowing that there’s someone who has our back, someone who’s seen the journey and is a woman so understands that other element, you know, is so important.

“We’re forever indebted to her, she’s another teammate and another part of the dream team and where we are right now. She’s been big time.”

Jamaica ended up losing all three group matches in 2019, but they won global admiration for their story and style of play. “First of all, I kind of feel like everyone in the world has a little bit of Jamaica in them at this point,” Cedella says. “Our music, our people, and our culture have expanded into the rest of the world. Secondly, football is [unofficially] the most popular sport on the planet. It’s a perfect match.”

But after the 2019 tournament, the team failed to receive any participation money from the JFF. One player told ESPN, the money had “got lost.” So they started a social media campaign called “No Pay, No Play.”

Heading into this tournament, relations were again strained with the JFF, the players felt let down and at the start of the year, alarm bells were ringing louder than ever. JFF president Michael Ricketts claimed the federation was struggling to fund the Reggae Girlz’s campaign and called on the Jamaican government to release more money in support. The team would travel to events and there’d be inadequate clothing and kit.

“We’re footballers first, you know, we don’t wanna have to be dealing with fundraising, or if we’re gonna be cold in training ’cause no one planned to bring the right gear or, or sort out the right flights,” Asher says. “It’s those things which shouldn’t really be our job.”

The Bob & Rita Marley Foundation again stepped in to help, continuing its financial support since that first involvement back in 2014. It helped with the pre-World Cup training camp in Amsterdam, while the training camp in April in Leicester also had financial backing by the Foundation, sources told ESPN.

“I think the struggles have been well documented at this point; issues with being paid, travel, and, again, just not being treated with the same level of professionalism and respect that they consistently bring to the table,” Cedella says.

As the JFF tried to find the money to fund the World Cup campaign, Havana Solaun‘s mother, Sandra Phillips-Brower, saw the situation and vowed to do something about it.

“I sit on the sidelines, a proud Jamaican, an even prouder mother of one of these strong independent professional women who represent their country for pride and love of soccer,” Philipps-Brower wrote. “I’m reaching out to ALL Jamaicans, those residing on the beautiful island I call home, to the Jamaicans residing overseas whose love for their country remains strong and deep, to all the soccer enthusiasts who love the power of a Cinderella story, to all women who know the fight for equality continues.”

She started a GoFundMe page called Reggae Girlz Rise Up in April 2023 and raised around $50,000. Another crowdfunding page organised by the Reggae Girlz Foundation (a non-profit organization looking to support the next generation of young female football players in underserved communities) has raised $46,000.

On June 16 the Reggae Girlz published an open letter, with Shaw and other players sharing it on social media. In it they emphasised their “utmost disappointment” in the “subpar” support from the JFF, and called for “immediate and systematic change.” They detailed how the team had missed friendly matches due to “extreme disorganisation” and were still waiting to contractually “agree upon compensation.” It spoke about how they’d sought meetings with the JFF but “questions go unanswered and concerns unresolved.”

“It was just to share a pulse of where the group had been, because, at the end of the day, I really want the Federation to hear us as we’re on the same team,” Asher says. “At the end of the day, we don’t wanna have to speak out and we don’t wanna have to point fingers and bring international attention to something that we would really prefer to handle without that attention, you know?

“So it, that was kind of like, alright, we reached a point where we put out a message saying we’re not afraid to fan a flame if we need. We would rather not, but this is what’s going on. We’re done just swallowing this and looking the other way and taking something that’s below the standards of what we deserve at this point, just to make sure that our voices were being heard.”

Cedella watched on with a familiar sense of déjà vu. “I wasn’t surprised, because the issues have been ongoing,” she says. “I was disappointed that the level of commitment and professionalism the players show continues to go unreciprocated.”

The JFF posted a short statement in response: “The Jamaica Football Federation has heard the concerns of the Reggae Girlz and we are taking them seriously. We acknowledge that things have not been done perfectly, and we are working assiduously to resolve them.”

With all this rumbling on in the background, the team had a pre-tournament training camp in Amsterdam and then travelled to Australia for one final warm-up match before their World Cup opener. They defeated Morocco 1-0 on July 16 at the home of the Preston Lions in Victoria.

Ahead of their World Cup opener against France, their collective statement was still a widely spoken about topic in the media, but the team wanted the focus to be on the pitch. “We’re very much here to play and that’s our primary focus,” forward Atlanta Primus says. Within the walls of the camp, the team vowed, as Drew Spence said, to “shock the world.” She adds: “Nobody believes in us — we have to do it ourselves.”

But in those moments after the 0-0 draw with France in Sydney, the players’ minds drifted to those who’d helped them reach the tournament. “The past few years, to be honest, it’s been tough,” Spencer says. “We always have support from outside of the federation that we need. Without them, we probably wouldn’t be here.”

Then came the collective refocusing ahead of Panama, drawing on the experience of what they went through in France in 2019. “There’s certainly a calmness amongst the people that have been here before,” Swaby says. “Your first tournament is a lot and when every single person is experiencing that it can be a lot of emotions to juggle. The hunger is still there, the excitement is the same, it’s just more refined, and the results speak to that change in experience.”

They defeated Panama 1-0 in Perth, a result they managed without star striker Shaw who was sent off for a second yellow card in the opener. The result saw them get four points from their first two matches, needing just a draw against Brazil to progress.

“One thing that I kind of think of, just in general, is you see this underdog narrative with us and a lot of teams that struggle with things that happen off the pitch,” Swaby says. “What you’re seeing here is that all these teams, ourselves included, maybe less was expected from us because of some the adversity we’ve had to overcome.

“We’ve come and we’re here to play. We’ve been able to put that stuff to the side to focus on getting the results that we want and ultimately how we perform in this tournament is just more credibility for us moving forward, fighting for the things that we want to see changed.”

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So, when Jamaica’s music eventually stops at this World Cup, the work won’t stop. The players will continue to push for change and improve life for the next generation.

“It’s a national team with FIFA funding. Money should not be an issue at this point,” Cedella says. “I am grateful that the Bob and Rita Marley Foundations have been able to partner with other organizations and also individuals to get the players what they need and deserve.”

Cedella’s Football is Freedom initiative continues using the sport to nurture grassroots football and education programmes back in Jamaica. The players hope this tournament will see another step forward in terms of improving their infrastructure.

“I think there’s a lot of talent all over the world,” Asher says. “You know, the Jamaican diaspora is vast and wide. I hope there’s a better pipeline for getting girls more equipped and ready to play, whether that’s in college or pro and into the national team. I hope to see the domestic league a bit more developed so that contributes to the pipeline process.

“I also would love to see a more established contractual way in which players are a little bit more insured and trust in that structure, so we don’t have to keep checking our shoulders. To make sure we’re being provided for and we’re being accounted and planned for. I hope whoever’s in charge, if it’s still the same administration, that they respect our place on the international stage. We’re a good program and we plan on improving and not backtracking.”

On Wednesday when they take to the field in Melbourne, Asher will be watching in Portugal and Cedella in Miami. There’ll be other countless thousands watching on from other corners of the world, all gripped by the Reggae Girlz’s story, but enthralled by what they are achieving on the pitch. Donaldson frequently used the word “resilience” in the build-up to the Brazil match, all the time trying to quieten the outside noise.

“While the story of how they got there is great reading, nobody is out there moving that ball for them,” said one source close to the team. And that’s what’s anchored this team, both on and off the field.

“We’re not superhuman, but we’ve been super women, you know?” Asher says. “We can’t turn our back on the progress that we’ve made, we can’t turn our back on what our progress means to everyone else that comes after us. So we carry a lot of weight and that can be heavy when we’re trying to create history at the same time.

“It’s like we’re an octopus or something to juggle it all, and we’re learning on our feet. It’s just amazing to look at what we’ve done and it’s an appetizer for what we can do if everyone on the team, including the federation and everyone is united in the same objective. With all the little details that come along with it, just imagine what we could achieve.”

Additional reporting: Joey Lynch and Alexis Nunes