Home|Sports|James excited to be first woman to lead BFASports
Sheldon LongleySend an emailSeptember 20, 2023 105 3 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
After eight years as an executive vice president in the Bahamas Football Association (BFA), Anya James made history this year, becoming the first female president of that prestigious sports body.
She was elected into office in May and receives a mandate of taking the body forward and higher to new heights over the next four years. Already, she has overseen a major breakthrough as the country has returned to competitive play in senior women’s football.
The Bahamas takes on Grenada at 7 p.m. at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium tonight, its first match in senior women’s football internationally in about 30 years.
Just four months into office, James said that she is proud of the venture and is looking forward to more accomplishments in the future.
“There are plans to grow this sport from the grassroots level, and also grow the women’s game throughout the Commonwealth of The Bahamas,” she said. “When we look at Grand Bahama for instance, Grand Bahama has a very strong youth women’s program. All of our female national teams always have members from Grand Bahama. Even so, we are always looking at expanding and improving – expand in Abaco, Exuma and Eleuthera as well. We’re looking to get more young people, and young women in particular, involved in football. Also, we want to get a lot of our senior women interested in coming back to the sport. There are a lot of young women who age out of the junior league and are still interested in playing. A lot of them return from college looking for something to do to stay active and re-introducing our women’s league is a part of getting them to return to the sport. It will also give the young high school players an opportunity to be seen so that they could possibly obtain scholarships.”
James said that the senior women’s national soccer team has been training throughout the summer and she’s looking forward to the competition they will engage in, in the coming days, weeks and months. They will play Grenada again on Sunday, in Grenada, and will move on to play the US Virgin Islands (USVI) in a home and away series in October and November, all as a part of the 2023 Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Nations League. The Bahamas was drawn into the CONCACAF Nations League Group C with Grenada and the USVI and has to win the group in order to move on to the next stage of qualification for the 2024 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup.
“It is exciting to be a leading woman in the football world. It’s rare,” said James. “As women, we’re not here to take over. We’re here to sit at the table and add value. It’s exciting and I’m encouraging other women to step forward and make a contribution. There are many other women who are capable of leading. I’m the first female to lead this body, but I definitely won’t be the last. It’s exciting.”
In getting more persons involved in the sport, and creating more programs, the BFA would need sufficient funding. James said they have an aggressive agenda for raising funds and they also receive assistance from FIFA (International Association Football Federation).
“FIFA has this program that is called ‘Football for Schools’ and that is one of the avenues that we are going to use to introduce and sustain football among the young people of The Bahamas. There is assistance when it comes to some of the programs,” said James. “We have sat down with the ministry (Ministry of Education & Technical & Vocational Training) in relation to expanding the program in the schools in the Family Islands. We have been into Cat Island, Inagua and have sent equipment. We are starting with the main islands because we know that we have people on the ground who could maintain the program. We want to make sure that the programs are sustainable.”
Bahamian women’s football in general, in the country, is experiencing a major rebirth. As mentioned, the national team will take on Grenada tonight. Following that, they will travel to Grenada to face that nation on Grenadian soil. That match will be played on Sunday.
As the woman in charge of the governing body of football in the country, James is determined to continue the advancement of the sport locally and provide more opportunities for players of all ages and both genders.