Association explains prizes differences

THE Madang Soccer Association (MSA) has clarified that the different amounts of cash prizes for the women’s and men’s divisions is due to number of sides taking part in each category.
MSA president Sigi Beschel told The National last week that the difference in prizes came back to the administrative cost of running the men’s division which had a higher number of teams compared with the women’s division.
He said the MSA decision to award different cash prizes stemmed from the contrast in participation numbers and not based on gender for the association’s week-long pre-season tournament which kicks off on Saturday.
“It all comes back to the running and administration costs, fees collected goes back to the ground, awards and finals preparation, especially officials’ cost and security cost during finals,” Beschel said.
“If the number of female teams increase then we will increase prize monies.
“But for now, we can only pay what we can afford and the number of women’s teams have not allowed us to do so.
“The women’s division has eight teams and they have a higher chance of winning because the low number of teams for K1,000.”