Soccer kicks in change for Lae folks

By LARRY ANDREW
RUNNING an off-season soccer tournament in the festive season when all sporting codes have wound up their competitions is not easy work.
Five years ago the Namuesh family started the biggest off-season soccer tournament in Lae City which today has a huge following with interest coming from around the country.
The Wawens Cup tournament started in 2014 at the same time the Eriku Wawens Football Club was established. There were two reasons the Namuesh family had to start the club and tournament. First, the family wanted a pathway for their son and sibling Ferdallas to develop his soccer potential. Second, from 2014 Eriku suburb became a notorious place with youths snatching bags from mothers and committing other sorts of illegal activities.
The husband-and-wife team of Andrew and Barbara saw that such activities gave the suburb a bad name so they decided that they would organise a sporting event to keep the young people in Eriku busy.
“When we started the Eriku Wawens we saw interest growing. So the thought came to run a tournament with the theme ‘Soccer for raw talent.’
“When we asked the youths to join Wawens Soccer Club their response was that they were not good at sports but spent their days drinking homebrew, smoking marijuana and roaming the streets.
“So we decided we should run a tournament for these youths while excluding those who were already playing soccer, rugby, softball and other games. When we started the tournament in 2014 all the youths from Eriku, Kamkumung, Bumbu and other suburbs of Lae expressed interest to participate. The inaugural season attracted a total of 48 teams and went well.”
A letter was written to the police at that time asking them to not attend to matters arising from the tournament but let the game organisers and players take control of everything themselves. So the police did not do any patrol around Lae Football Association Park in the duration of the tournaments.
The couple saw that the tournament was good as it allowed a gathering of young people from Bumbu, Kamkumung, Miles area, Taraka and all other settlements to participate. The involvement of youths in the Wawens Cup tournament had contributed to reducing crime in the city during the festive season from 2014 to 2018.
There was more good news as some of the players taking part in the tournament had been scouted by National Soccer League franchises.
According to Barbara, for the last five years during the festive season the concept of Soccer for Raw Talent has contributed to positive living for the youths in communities like Bumbu. The community lauded the concept as it has reduced social issues and noise pollution during festive periods.
The couple negotiated with Manolos Aviation to fly in the trophies on grand final day to show their spirit of community and lift the profile of the tournament as well.
“This gives the opportunity to the young people who had never been on a helicopter. When their team wins the captain gets on board the chopper to deliver the cup at the grand final.
“This concept has put a challenge to the young people motivating them to play hard so their team captains can have the chance to board the chopper at the end of the year to deliver the cup. This is one of the initiatives we have for the tournament,” Barbara says.
“To be honest police personnel are happy as there had not been any disturbance at the tournaments.
“At the same time our team Eriku Wawens consisting of youths from the streets made it through to become minor premiers and grand finalist of LFA in the first division and continued to repeat the winning form in 2015. Moving up to B League Eriku Wawens claimed the division’s minor premiership and grand final.
“If other codes can do a similar thing we have done in soccer I think we can reduce the city’s crime rate,” Andrew says.
“Soccer for raw talents is simply to invite those who do not play soccer, who think they cannot make it. We target those who have nowhere to turn to and we give them a second chance to play soccer so that they can represent the country, Lae City and their families.
“Our aim is to showcase the talents from the streets who can play against the champions. And so far the tournament has been very successful with the help of Manolos Aviation,” Andrew said.
The winners of the Wawens Cup since its establishment were City United (2014), Eriku Wawens (2015), Papsii (2016), Midwest (2017) and B-Tech (2018) in the open men’s divisions.
In 2016 women’s soccer was introduced luring interest from women from within and outside the city. In that first year Eriku Wawens won the women’s Wawens Cup. The following year Prima Power from Lahi Soccer Association claimed the title.
An Under-16 boys competition was also introduced in 2016 with the aim of nurturing the teenages to represent PNG in U-17 games.
Most boys who came through the Besta programme and PNGFA selection went through the Wawens Cup tournament. The Namuesh family has spent over K200,000 in prize money, trophies and overall expenses from their pocket without support from any sponsor.
The Namuesh family’s efforts in promoting soccer at this level had not gone unoticed as Papua New Guinea Football Association through President Jon Kapi Natto has given the nod to the tournament as a recognised off-season tournament.
The family thanks Kapi Natto and PNG Football Association (PNGFA) for giving the tournament that recognition.
Some of the major expenses involved in the tournament are the hiring of LFA Park field, paying of the grounds men and referees.
“Other issues include ‘politics’ in soccer where people complain about small things and the quality of refereeing. We believe that refereeing is important to lift the standard of the game.
“One major obstacle facing us is the absence of a sponsor for the last five years.
“Through this article we appeal for sponsors to get on board as it is a good initiative and a pathway for soccer development at the grassroots level. The initiative is also an avenue to alleviate social issues amongst the communities within Lae City by engaging young people meaningfully in soccer and keeping them off illegal activities for a better Lae,” Andrew said.