‘I left UK to experience a different country’

By PATRICIA KEAMO
ALMOST thirty years ago, then 30-year-old Tony Green left his homeland of the United Kingdom (UK) and came to Papua New Guinea wanting to experience “a totally different country” and now he is the face of Athletics PNG (APNG).
As a practising accountant by profession, he started his career with Coopers and Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in Goroka, Eastern Highlands, before joining APNG in July, 1992.
With his experience as a distance runner, Green has not only helped athletes who have gone on to become gold medallists, but the development of the code in the country.
His contributions over the years in his role as president of APNG, particularly in 2019 and 2020, has seen him being nominated as a finalist for the SP Sports Awards’ official of the year.
“I worked in accounting firms at home in the UK and when I became a certified pracitising accountant, I wanted to go overseas for a while to work,” Green told The National.
“I chose PNG because I didn’t want to go somewhere like home such as Australia or New Zealand, I wanted to experience a totally different country.
“I never did athletics at school, like most kids in England, I was a football fanatic and my team were Manchester United.
“I started running when I was in my mid-20s just to relieve the stress of my accounting studies and I got hooked on distance running.
“I ran a few marathons, including London and New York, and had a best time of two hours, 49 minutes.
“Staying in athletics as long as I have, it’s almost 30 years now since I joined APNG and it is hard work.

“But seeing student athletes graduating from overseas universities is very satisfying.
“It is also very rewarding to see athletes who I’ve worked closely with from the beginning of their careers, becoming gold medallist, this is especially so in the case of individuals who were just staying home after completing Grade 12 and not getting an offer.
“In the 1990s, Fiji were dominant in athletics at the Pacific Games right up to 2003 (before) we began to turn the tide around 2005 to 2007 by starting programmes which had the effect of retaining athletes in the sport for several years.
“I realised that around the Pacific, many countries had hardly any senior athletes, they tended to move on after leaving school because there was nothing to motivate them to stay in the sport.

“Fiji has a far superior and very competitive inter-high school athletics programme which produced a large number of very good athletes in the age range of 17 to 19.
“(For PNG), we have far fewer high performing athletes at that age, but we work on our athletes for the future and develop them after leaving school.”
Green said thletics may seem strong on the surface, but that wasn’t the case, given the limited activities in the provinces with only a few centres running regular competitions.
“In many sports, there is too much dependency on volunteers and nowadays, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find people who have the passion and resources to be able to make a difference,” he said.
“Most national sporting bodies simply don’t have the resources to conduct a lot of activities around the country.

“Hence, we have to focus on areas where we can make a difference and for me, that means hosting regional and national championships, strengthening the national team, and doing what we can to develop coaches and other officials.”
Green acknowledged the support of APNG’s executive committee, saying: “I could not have achieved what I have without the support of my colleagues.
“Since I’m the spokesman for the sport, it gives the impression that I’m doing everything which is not the case.
‘There’s a lot going on behind the scenes which people don’t see and some of my colleagues are very active either in their own associations or contributing administratively.
“I’m grateful to my colleagues for nominating me for the award.”
When asked about his plans for athletics in PNG, Green said his focus was on the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands and the Pacific Mini Games.
“My focus now is achieving a very successful outcome at the Pacific Mini Games next year,” he said.
“We are also aiming for our best Pacific Games result in 2023.
“After that, I think it will be time for me to make way for someone else to take the lead.”