Rebels with a cause

Normal, Weekender
Source:

The National, Friday 18th November 2011

THE newly crowned queens of the Port Moresby netball competition, City Pharmacy Rebels was accorded a prestigious award for excellence in sports during the Pride of PNG For Women presentation at the Parliament House recently.
It was the first time the club was given special recognition in the history of Pride of PNG For Women awards.
The club sponsor used the opportunity to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the netball players.
The netball queens dethroned the pre-match favourite and the reigning premier, Monier Paramana 50-46 to clinch their first ever netball title in 15 years.
It was a double celebration for the City Pharmacy Rebels as they claimed the minor premiership as well.
It was indeed sweet victory for the Emily Taule-coached team
The PNG Netball Federation were first to congratulate City Pharmacy Rebels club.
President Julianne Leka-Maliaki congratulated the club who she said were the best team in the 2011 Port Moresby netball competition. 
“I think it is only fitting that this award is accorded to this club who have persevered for many years participating in this competition not only to bag the major honor as queens of the Port Moresby netball competition but also being one of the largest clubs in the competition with a junior development programme in place’
She said it was more rewarding as the club had produced two of PNG’s finest netballers in the Mavara sisters, Winnie and Lu, who played extra-ordinarily in their team’s success,” she said.
“They come with a great wealth of experience and being co-captains of the Pepes team I believe the chemistry of this combination can be seen in their approach towards the game,”
Club president Emily Taule commended sponsor City Pharmacy Limited Group of Companies for their community initiative for recognising the “unsung heroes”
Taule who has been the judge in the recent past for this award said she learnt a lot of stories of hard work, commitment, great passion not for reward or recognition but for the sheer love of the job and out of the goodness of their kind hearts.
These women are special kinds of human beings. And if it was not for City Pharmacy’s initiative the stories of these champions would not be known or told.
Taule recalled the beginning in 1995, when City Pharmacy Limited responded to a call to support a local organisation called the Rebels netball club.
“The sponsors saw and shared the same values that sports espouses of respect and friendship and 16 years later this partnership still holds strong. The club’s focus in the early stages was to develop our junior players.
“We did that and have won many junior grand finals in various divisions ranging from Under 10 to Under 21 to attest to that.
“Our hard efforts with our development programme finally bore fruit with our greatest break through in winning the POMNA premier grand final this year in what one could say is the top netball competition in this country.
“The girls sitting in front of you tonight are the ones that created history for Rebels Netball Club, for our sponsors City Pharmacy and as importantly for Papua New Guinean women.
“Many of these young girls started in our Under 10’s such as Velgie, Kalyna Taule and Marinama Maha. Many from the club have represented PNG Netball such as Barbara Stubbings, Jan Waddy, Veronica Weing, Helen Edwards and Kila Rawali whilst some are current PNG Pepes representatives in Winnie Mavara and Lua Rikis.
“All in all its been a successful club. Our message on the night of the presentation was no different from that of the winners there on the night, it is one of perseverance, strong commitment, deep passion and sharing.
Taule commended Patel Mahesh, Ravi Sudhir Guru, Prue Go and the CPL team for the golden opportunity to share our story.
“Winning the grand finals this year is our way of returning the value for your generous support over the many years and we pray for many more years to come. We could not achieved our successes without your trust and loyal support,”