Women’s side acknowledged in Morobe

THE Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday hosted a welcome function for Papua New Guinea Women’s national women’s soccer players to acknowledge their efforts in helping PNG advance to the next stage of the 2023 World Cup qualifier in February.
President John Byrne said success in sport was like success in any endeavour including business.
“We start with an idea, work hard, fall, get up, work harder, try new things and practice, practice and practice. We celebrate small successes and criticise our own failings, then work to improve them. We have mentors and leaders and learn from the best.”
Bryne said while women’s sport was not given as much attention as men’s they worked just as hard and often had to juggle other responsibilities such as motherhood, being wives, and even working fulltime.
“PNG stood as one on July 30 when our PNG women’s team won the OFC Nations Women’s Cup. Morobe and Lae are the heart and soul of football in PNG, half of the winning team, the Golden Boot and several of the key-coaching staff are from Lae teams,” he added.
“Let us take the opportunity to meet with them, celebrate the victory, listen to their stories and network at the same time.”
PNG striker and co-captain Meagan Gunemba on behalf of the Morobe-based players Betty Sam, Kesai Kotome, Margaret Joseph, Charlie Yanding, Sandra Birum, Georgina Kaikas and two technical officials Susan Watpore and Edna Thomas acknowledged and thanked all those present at the function as well as the city and province.
Gunemba said soccer was a global sport and in PNG was popular in the Northern region as well as parts of Southern and the New Guinea Islands and starting to grow and become popular in the Highlands.
She said this would ensure PNG had a large pool of players to pick from and all the sport’s administrators needed to do was develop the code through junior pathways, competitions and training for referees and coaches.
The OFC golden boot recipient said the PNG women’s team was already dominant in the Pacific, excluding Australia and New Zealand, and the only way to maintain and improve on that was to continue to develop the code in PNG.
She said to qualify for a world cup would be historical for Pacific women’s soccer and a first for a PNG soccer team.
“This OFC Women’s Nations Cup win qualifies us for the next stage of the World Cup qualifying play off next February in Auckland, New Zealand. This I believe is a milestone achievement for football in PNG. And I quote from one of the greatest soccer legend Pele who said, ‘Sports is a greatest thing which takes young people off the street and especially football (soccer) which is the biggest sport on earth’.” Gunemba said there needed to be more support for sports outside rugby league. She said soccer deserved more state recognition and support for its achievements.