Have some sense of pride, understanding

Letters

ALLOW me to respond to Derrick Kii Reuben’s letter (The National, Nov 15).
Reuben does not deserve to be a Papua New Guinea for feeling ashamed of his country women who are representing PNG in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup tournament in Port Moresby.
You and other citizens who have been criticising our PNG girls have no idea what it takes to be a champion winning team at this level.
This is not some PMSA or local soccer tournament which you guys demand high expectations from these girls.
This is the FIFA World Cup and to be a champion team does not happen overnight. You should know that this is the first time PNG has been represented on the world stage in football (soccer) at all levels for both men and women.
What you and the rest of PNG need to understand is PNG automatically qualified for the WC without having to play any qualifying matches because we are the host nation of the event.
The countries that PNG is playing against have been playing in such tournaments for many years.
These countries have the experience and also world class established programmes/institutions that start training both their girls and boys at a very young age to nurture and develop the skills and talent in playing football.
Hence, the skills displayed by these girls are beyond the skill level of our girls.
Our girls have developed the skills on their own with no programs/institutions to help them develop.
Ol burukim bus (they did it on their own) to get to where they are now.
So for you and the rest of the country to be criticising these girls on their performance is very irrational.
What you and all those criticising our PNG girls should do is look at ways to help establish programmes/institutions that will develop the sport at a very young age so the
level of playing for both our girls and boys can be on par with the champion football teams around the world.
Until that happens, we cannot expect much from our girls in terms of their performance.
It takes years of playing together and more exposure at the highest level tourneys to build a champion team that warrants the expectation you have on these girls.
Let’s stop these criticisms and support our girls regardless of whatever the result.
 
Football Fan, Via email