Reunion paves way forward

Sports

By ISAAC LIRI
FOOTBALL followers in the country will remember 2018 as the year the sport re-united after almost two years of impasse at the administrative level.
Prior to the unification of football, this year partly panned out like 2017 with two factions operating separately.
But thanks to the intervention by Fifa and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), soccer in the country was guided away from its administrative differences.
The most significant event in football in the country occurred in Port Moresby on Oct 27 when John Kapi Natto, the man who spearheaded the breakaway regime after the 2016 congress, was elected president of the Papua New Guinea Football Association.
Prior to the Oct 27 congress, Kapi Natto, then PNGFA acting president John Wesley Gonjuan and Fifa signed a memorandum of understanding to pave way for the unification — the moment all football lovers were waiting for.
Another interesting event that occurred earlier was the resignation of former PNGFA president David Chung in April.
This particular event saw the tides turning for football in PNG, with OFC president Chung under scrutiny over corruption allegations in New Zealand.
That forced him to step down from his post in PNG which led to Gonjuan taking up the post on an interim basis.

Fifa World Cup trophy visit
Apart from the politicking in football, PNG was also honoured for the first time in history to be one of the selected 58 countries out of 211 Fifa member countries to receive football’s most prestigious prize, the Fifa World Cup trophy.
It is a Fifa tradition since 2006 that the trophy goes on tour prior to the tournament and PNG welcomed the trophy in February with a function in Port Moresby.
The trophy was escorted by former French footballer and Fifa ambassador Christian Karembeu, who was born in New Caledonia.

National Soccer League
It was another tough year for the National Soccer League (NSL) with the cancellation of matches.
Nearly half of the franchises didn’t settle their affiliation fees despite the NSL board allowing them to pay in quarters.
Some teams couldn’t meet the travel expenses and wash-out matches piled up as a result.
The NSL board did all it could to find a way to host the finals and prevent a repeat of 2017, when there was no grand final and the team that finished top on the ladder were declared champions.
The NSL board met and agreed that teams who didn’t settle their affiliation fees be excluded from the competition or playing their outstanding matches.
This resulted in only five franchises — Toti City FC, Madang FC, FC Morobe Wawens, Besta United and Southern Strikers — out of seven completing their regular matches.
City FC claimed the minor premiership while newcomers FC Morobe Wawens finished second and earned a spot at the 2019 OFC Champions League.
But Wawens never made it to the grand final, as they were ousted by United 1-0 in the semifinals.
Madang FC, on the other hand, had a bumpy ride after returning from the OFC Champions League earlier in the year as PNG’s second best side and gave a massive scare to defending champions City but eventually fell short with a 5-4 loss in a penalty shoot-out in the semifinals.
City faced grand final rookies United in the decider and reclaimed their title.

Football Federation of PNG
While the NSL was struggling, the breakaway faction (FFPNG) were running their domestic Champions League in the Southern and Northern conferences.
The Southern conference consisted of Hekari United, Erema FC, Admiralty FC and Koupa FC while the Northern Conference hosted Markham FC, Morobe United and Kalibobo FC.
Erema FC were eventually champions of the Southern conference while Morobe United claimed the Northern conference title.
Both sides faced off in Lae and Erema ended up victorious.

Besta Football Association Cup
While the football factions were working towards with the signing of the MOU and getting their houses in order for the unification, the annual Besta FA Cup ran smoothly.
Southern region brought their talent from Keapara and Hoods who had skilful footballers.
The Southern women’s side was represented by the Port Moresby Soccer Association.
Northern had Morobe and Almami FC — a team from Bogia.
From the Highlands, Goroka showed their class and went on to represent the region while the New Guinea Islands saw Kimbe and Bougainville earning the right to represent the region.
The Besta FA Cup ended with Morobe winning the men’s division while Port Moresby proved too strong in the women’s division.

Women’s football
While the year was winding down, the women’s senior national side created waves in New Caledonia with an unbeaten run in their respective pool at the Women’s OFC Nations Cup.
PNG made it to the semifinals, eventually going down to Fiji but regrouped and went on to beat hosts New Caledonia for third place.
Despite short preparations, women in PNG proved their potential, especially with standouts like Marie Kaipu, Meagan Gunemba and Yvonne Gabong.

Looking ahead
All in all, 2018 can be summed up as a challenging year for football with its positives and negatives.
At the end of it all, the unification of football between the two factions was the icing on the cake and the way forward for football in the country.
With football now under one roof and the NSL season, football can look forward to greater things next year.