K1m boost for Dwellers
The National, Thursday February 25th, 2016
By LARRY AULA ANDREW and FREDERIC JEJERI
TELIKOM National Soccer League champions Lae City Dwellers FC were given a hefty boost of K1 million yesterday.
The funding will assist the team in the NSL and preparations for the and O-League challenge in New Zealand.
Morobe Governor Kelly Naru handed the cheque to club president Ronald Ram, coach Peter Gunemba and players at the Sir Ignatius Kilage Stadium during the club’s morning training session.
Naru said the assistance was to get the players, management and officials to successfully complete the NSL season and move on to the Oceania Football Confederation challenge.
“With the blessings of the people of Lae city, the people of Morobe and the government of the province, we say thank you to God for the opportunity to participate in terms of assisting our youths in this kind of activity,” said Naru.
He said through sports, youths would be kept off the streets and taught discipline to become good citizens of the community.
“And this is a partnership we will build and we are committed to continuing in the future,” Naru said.
“It’s all about putting public funds and resources to good use for the benefit of the young people in the promotion of sports. And not only sports but in the promotion of the concept of Christ in sports, that’s what we are promoting.”
Gunemba thanked Naru, the provincial government and people of Morobe for the blessing.
“This money will be accounted for and put to good use to help the players,” he said.
Meanwhile, Naru said the K1 million had been allocated from the 2016 provincial budget.
He said it was worth giving money for community activities through sports.
The funding is a commitment made last year after Lae City Dwellers defeated Madang FC in the NSL final.
Naru said there was not enough sponsorship to back the team from the NSL to the O-League.
However, Michael Earley, the manager of Lae’s other NSL franchise Welgris Morobe United, has described the K1 million funding as “unfair”.
“If K1 million was allocated to LCD, why not the same amount be allocated to Welgris Morobe United, Lae Snax Tigers, basketball, volleyball and other sporting codes?
“It’s totally unfair to other sporting codes in the province who will miss out on such a budget allocation,” Earley said.
Earley said it was a big amount allocated to a team and not an association.