Sports industry to flourish

 THE upsurge in the sports sector, particularly with the development of stadia and facilities predominantly in Port Moresby, will provide Papua New Guineans with employment and career opportunities that were not previously considered.

The management and upkeep of sports facilities is one area and while the other is in administration, coaching and training and development. 

It is not just the Pacific Games but the availability of world class sports infrastructure will ensure that the country will be able to host international tournaments and other major events in the short and long term.

The FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup tournament, National Rugby Lea­gue fixtures, Rugby League World Cup fixtures, regional tournaments for a wide range of sports are now possible because of the venues.

The only area that needs to be beefed up to meet the growth is the local expertise.

Training, coaching, sports administration, physiotherapy, diet, health and fitness, turf management, event management, broadcasting and venue construction (specific to the sport) are the areas that will provide locals a chance to make a living from the sector.  

The country does not have any qualified turf managers and the number of physiotherapists, a much needed specialist skill in sports, cannot cater for demand – in most cases general practitioners play the part but the need is there for specialists.

With sport a popular past time for many Papua New Guineans it is expected that more young people entering tertiary level education will opt for a career in sports.

It will not be a movement en mass but there will be interest shown by more students for sports related courses at colleges and institutions if not in country then overseas. 

Previously the domain of expatriates the tide is slowly turning as more locals are finding out that they can make a living from sport.

One does not have to be a professional or even semi-professional player in a sport to earn. It is now common to see sports federations streamlining their operations and introducing a business-like approach to their operations.

Teams competing in top level domestic competitions such as the Digicel Cup (rugby league) and the National Soccer League have set ups that try to mirror what is being done internationally.

The approach has transitioned from amateur to professional and this is the trend that will be followed by other sports.

The usual situation in sports was that it was managed by part-timers giving their free time to organise and run yearly competitions as well as doing a little to promote and develop the sport.

But that no longer is the case. Progressive sports such as rugby league, rugby union, soccer, cricket and AFL are setting the benchmark in terms of how they organise themselves.

These sports in large part get a fair amount of sponsorship from the corporate sector and in some instances preferential treatment from the state – league. 

Soccer and cricket are beneficiaries of annual funding from their world governing bodies. But this support has not been given on an ad hoc basis – the codes have to provide detailed plans on how they will use the money to develop the sport and to executive those plans.    

Presently, cricket, soccer and to certain extent AFL operate in such a way.

Weightlifting and athletics send their athletes for training and competition overseas because the country has neither the facilities, high level coaching nor the competitions to push our elite competitors to fulfil their potential.

That could change over the next five to 10 years as more emphasis is put to identifying and producing elite level athletes locally.

The biennial PNG Games will hopefully see more and more towns and provinces upgrade their existing infrastructure and build new stadiums, fields, swimming pools, tracks and greens to host large multi-sport events. West New Britain and Southern Highlands will host the next two Games and are expected to invest in sports over the next 12 to 18 months.

Sport will not just bring enjoyment, fulfilment and entertainment to the masses but is now an industry that will flourish and people can benefit from it.