The new football (soccer) season has just started here in England and with it comes the excited chatter of fans from around the country. My favourite type of supporter (and perhaps it's no surprise my husband is one of these) is the often resigned fan of a team that doesn't always do well, but always tries to be the best it can be. I feel as though national sport in Papua New Guinea is a bit like this team.
The more I read about the country as a whole, the more I hear of the corruption of big business, institutions and politics. I've also become aware of inherent inequalities such as
access to healthcare in remote areas and the status of
gay relationships. There is no doubt an external bias that skews my viewpoint here, but despite these issues, I still feel like championing PNG, especially in sport. My travels over the internet exploring Papua New Guinea haven't all been doom and gloom. I've also found out about the many organisations that are doing great things in communities across PNG, especially those related to sport.
PNG Women's Cricket team winning their latest trophy. Photo:
Skerah not only has a grand program of school cricket that has been touring schools since 2010, but also a range of initiatives called
Kriket Blo Olgeta which includes disability cricket, women's teams, international matches and village and traditional games. Cricket PNG promotes all these through it's
Facebook page right alongside the first team events, which shows how important the grass-roots game is to the national organisation.
Other sports are also involved in encouraging participation across the country.
Rugby PNG run schools and community work in tandem with international organisations.
Athletics PNG, who have been going for over 50 years, run athletics events in more than half of the 15 provinces, and aim to expand that even further so that all up-and-coming sports stars have the opportunity to get involved.
Wherever you are, when a sports team profile is raised it often means that there will be more funding for the projects that help get ordinary people engaged. I can see that sports organisations in PNG find it important to bring their games to everyone and that is something I can firmly cheer on.
If international sport is like the Premiership then to me PNG is the little team that may not win the cup, but that I'm proud to support because it's heart is firmly in the right place.
