THE very low turnout at the 2012 Bargain Box Fiji Limited women's Inter District Championship at Govind Park in Ba over the weekend is a testament that a lot more awareness needs to be created by the Fiji Football Association to attract spectators to the sport.
Even with the free entry, fans stayed away from the spectacle dubbed as the biggest sporting event of women's soccer in the country.
Lautoka women's soccer coach Sere Nalulu said the Fiji FA failed to promote this year's women's IDC.
He said the parent body needed to establish strong women's soccer associations within the districts.
Nalulu said the accommodation provided by the Fiji FA for some teams in the tournament was poor.
"Can you imagine we were billeted in the old change room at Govind Park," Nalulu said.
"Here we have Fiji FA saying we are progressing forward and there is development being done. But if you really look at it we are not going forward. It is a step back."
"Camping in a cramped change room is a thing of the past. The roof started to leak when it rained heavily on Saturday. We were told that we had to move out after that but no one turned up to relocate us.
"If people would have seen where we camped, they would have been embarrassed. There are certainly ways to better organise things.
"At least to promote the sport, the parent body could have communicated with the education ministry and get school students in Ba who were not involved in examinations to witness the day one matches on Friday. That way you not only promote the sport but generate interest in the youngsters.
The women's IDC pool draws were done last Thursday in Lautoka a day before the start of the tournament.
The draws were released later that afternoon.
Fiji FA president Rajesh Patel had said the parent body was doing its best in developing the sport.
He said the onus was on the district associations as well to develop women's soccer.