Ba women’s coach Charlene Lockington said they deserved to win the inaugural 2023 Rooster Chicken/ Scoops Ice Cream Battle of the Giants in Suva.
The Women in Black clinched the title after beating Labasa 4-3 in their final round-robin match on Sunday.
An excited Lockington told FijiLive that despite just needing a draw against Labasa, the Women-In-Black were eager to end the tournament with three over three wins with the inclusion of six players below the age of 17 in the team.
Lockington also said that this was a win for all the players families for allowing the young girls to participate in the tournament which is also a huge step in developing upcoming talents in the country.
“It’s a great feeling. It’s a new story winning the first BOG. We have proven that we are the true champions of Fiji. It’s well deserved because we are the most developed team in the women’s competition.”
“Our youngest players here were an 11-year-old and we had few 14-year-olds in the team.”
“I would like to congratulate the players. We have senior players in the team who have come back and made my coaching easier. This is dedicated to all our families and children of Ba.”
She added young ones were guided well with the return of most of the senior players back to the team from overseas trials such as Kulas striker Cema Nasau.
“Labasa is always our rival. They played a great game. But we were here to win. One year they took our players away from us but they returned and decided to play for the Vanua of Ba and the pride of our district.”
“Some of them have attended workshops. She went to the US and after returning from the trials, she brought a lot of knowledge and has helped the team with her experience.”
“I would like to thank the other three teams who played really good football and trained really hard. We came out the winners and I congratulate the coaches for bringing their teams and displaying a wonderful performance nevertheless the results.”
The team received $3,000 prize money and Lockington said they will utilise it to finance the football kits for the players.
