East Coast set to join NPL comp

Sports

By HENRY MORABANG
A NEW semi-professional football club, East Coast (ECFC) is set to be launched on Oct 27 in Port Moresby.
ECFC president Shannon Andrew says the club, which is registered under the Investment Promotion Act, is set to debut in the Football Federation of PNG’s National Premier League (NPL).
He said the club’s vision was to become one of the best organised football clubs in the country and to help develop the talent in the provinces.
“We want to have a positive impact on soccer in PNG,” Andrew said.
“We’ve seen the issues that have affected soccer at the elite level and we have taken it as a challenge to help develop the sport by addressing those areas to make our club and players more competitive in the country and overseas.”
Andrew said the East Coast club hoped to be a positive influence on players and help them develop their potential.
He said their aim was to create a dynamic football environment with high quality culture by 2020 in accordance with their three-year strategic development plan.
He said he was inspired by a recent article by Sir Kostas Constantinou titled “PNG full of Opportunities”.
“Throughout the course of trying to establish the East Coast club I young Papua New Guineans need to be inspired, motivated, and supported to realise their dreams.
“They need to find out what they are passionate about and get help on how to achieve their goals.
“As a young Papua New Guinean, I am a passionate soccer player and believe that soccer can have a powerful impact in the lives of many youths in PNG, hence this is what inspired me to create a different football concept – one that is focused on impact and change,” Andrew said.
Tickets for the launching are selling to interested individuals at K300 per person, and K10,000 per corporate table for those interested to become inaugural partners.
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