Hope Solo, the 31 year old female U.S.A. international goalkeeper will make an appearance tomorrow in the TT Pro League clash between Central F.C. and St Anns Rangers.
The renowned keeper had been recruited by Central F.C. Managing Director to help develop a womans football programme for The Sharks.
"We were joking that Hope may threaten Marvin Phillip for the number 1 jersey" said Operations Director, Kevin Harrison. "Out of interest, I checked the Pro League rules and, amazingly, they do not specify that teams cannot have female players! Not really expecting it to happen, we registered Hope with the club as a player, and it was accepted!"
Harrison said there was a flurry of activity when the situation came to light, including calls from FIFA and CONCACAF, but there were no grounds to disallow Solos registration. "We then had a serious meeting to discuss whether Hope should actually play. She was fantastic in training, and T&T first choice keeper, Phillip, said that he thought this would be a great statement for womens football and didn't mind stepping down for one game."
Sharks coach, Terry Fenwick said "I suppose this is a publicity stunt of sorts, but if Hope wasn't a superb keeper, it wouldn't happen. She's fantastic in training and although I would never select her over Marvin, when he offered to step down, I thought: why not?"
Harrison said that Solo would only play one Pro League game and then her number sixty nine jersey would be retired for ever. "Hope and Central F.C. will make history tomorrow. We have had loads of sponsorship inquiries from the States. Although it is really a publicity stunt, this game will fund our womans programme for the next two seasons. We've signed a deal with a feminine hygiene company for US$100,000 and a major cosmetic company want to sponsor a Central F.C. team in the Wolf league."
Central F.C. also signed another well known female footballer, April Furst on a one day contract.
