Grenada Blog - Part 1

The first thing to be aware of when you are starting a new role is the historical/cultural environment that you are entering and how that affects the reception you will get.

Through my travels around the world, a recurring perception of British people has been relayed to me. Arrogant, Distant and condescending. Whether you wish to argue with the validity of that perception about the current crop of Brits, clearly in countries that experienced British colonial rule, there is a weight of history that informs that opinion.

With this in mind, my early steps in the new role have been centred around listening and observing rather than implementing a plan built without knowledge of the intricacies of life and football here.

When you come into a program that needs to be built from the bottom, its easy to see all of the problems and feel a pressure to start immediately trying to fix everything. Hidden underneath this though, is that arrogance and condescension that us British are so renowned for.

It doesn't take a genius to recognise the issues in women's football here and in my conversations with people in the football community they are more than aware of what needs to change. If it was that easy, then someone smarter than me would have done it already.

So it seems abundantly clear to me that the only way I can be of service here and add any value is by being a conduit for those people who are passionate about women's football in Grenada. If I am able to support them in solving the problems that exist then I believe we will be build a strong foundation for women's football to grow.

On a personal level I like the sound of my own voice too much so it will be a good challenge for me to shut up and continue listening and learning.