Marten to head NSL

Sports

By ISAAC LIRI
THE man who helped organise and run the last year’s FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Port Moresby has been appointed CEO of the National Soccer League.
New Zealander Seamus Marten will lead a new board for the 2017 season which is expected to kick off early next month.
The PNGFA-sanctioned NSL also named eight members of its board at a press conference in Port Moresby yesterday.
The board comprises Benny Popoitai (chairman), Xavier Victor, Miok Komolong, Charlie Wanma, Dan Kakaraya, Ray Paul, Paul Komboi and John Wesley Gonjuan.
Simon Koima is the competition manager.
Popoitai said Marten would join the competition later.
“If we didn’t think he was good enough then we wouldn’t have him here and that’s why he is the CEO because we see the value of having him on board,” Popoitai said of Marten’s appointment.
The NSL will kick off on May 6 and involve six teams.
The six teams are the Lae City Dwellers, Madang FC, Besta United, Buang FC, PS United and the Southern Strikers.
Popoitai said all games would be played at the Laiwaden Oval in Madang as it was a central location.
“Madang has been in this competition for a long time, sometimes you have to bring the game to the people,” Popoitai said.
“It’s been Lae and Port Moresby all the time so it’s good to reward loyalty.”
“Madang is a central location, we’ll have people in Wewak taking boats and then we’ll have people in Lae getting PMVs up there, so it’s going to be exciting for Madang,” Koima added.
Explaining the draws, PNGFA vice-president John Wesley Gonjuan said the NSL would have a week of competition and then head into a two to three-week break.
“More or less the competition will go down and then end by November so that is what we intend to do this year,” Gonjuan said.
He said the 12th year of the competition was planned to be bigger and better with extensive support from the PNGFA who would cover transport and accommodation costs for the teams.
He confirmed that the money from club registration will go towards offsetting the costs of running the competition.
The NSL board have yet to name a major sponsor.
The franchises paid K80,000 in registration fees as well as a K5000 as nomination fee.