Kathmandu, April 5 The FIFA Women’s World Cup winning team members of the United States of America Lorrie Fair and Tracy Noonam joined Nepali footballers and sports journalist to share their experience at a panel discussion here on Tuesday. In a programme entitled 'Empowering Girls through Soccer', organised by the American Embassy in Kathmandu and Youth Initiative, women’s national team skipper Anu Lama and men’s team member Rohit Chand spoke about the current situation of the sport and players in Nepal, while sports journalist Sabina Karki compared men and women football. Sharing her experience, Lama said she started playing football without knowing about women’s football in Nepal and going against her family. “My father did not like my involvement in football. It took him long time to digest my presence in football, only when I scored goals and my pictures were published in newspapers,” said Lama. “We need to change that perception, so that girls can come out of their homes and play football. Then only development is possible.” Lama pointed out the need of increment in number of tournaments and the prize money as well. “The prize money in men’s football tournament is 50 times more than in ours and the number of tournament is also less,” she said. “The duration of tournament is also shorter and we get to play less matches in leagues also.” National team member Chand accepted there was partiality in men and women footballers. “The women’s teams have been regularly winning medals for Nepal compared to men’s. But they do not get support that their male counterparts receive. The women’s team has potential and they have proved their worth by winning medals,” said Chand. “We need to support them. They need more exposure so that they can be better than India in South Asian region,” he said. “We had planned to do something for women’s football but we have not been able to deliver,” added Chand. Members of the 1991 and 1999 FIFA World Cup winning squad, Noonam and Fair said they also lagged behind in the beginning. “When we won the World Cup in 1991, there was nobody to receive us at the airport, except for our family members and a person from media,” said Fair. “But when we won the cup in 1999, we received a grand welcome and people changed their perception towards women footballers and our families supported us. Today we are fighting for equal payment.” Fair said if the girls were guided positively they would be able to do the task in an easy way. “We need to put positive thinking in their mind. This is possible with everybody’s support. If we support girls, they will rise and deliver,” Fair added. Noonam said the Education bill in their nation helped them lot. “As per the law, universities need to spend equal amount in both men and women sports. During the 1991 World Cup, we had zero funding. But by 1999, we received the same amount of salary that the men players got. We are still fighting for equality in all aspects of the sport,” she added. Sports journalist Karki said the tournaments for women in Nepal were few and the prize money was also less. “The All Nepal Football Association does not have proper calendar for women’s football and it also lacked planning,” she said. “The women players do not have secured future after their career. The governing body should address these issues. Things are changing slowly as the women players are getting exposure these days. When I was a player, we had to face a lot of problems. Today at least the players get respect from the society,” said the member of the youth team that won the ACC U-19 Women’s Cricket Tournament in 2008 in Thailand.