Caleb here. I suppose it is about time for me to follow up with a report about how things went on tournament day here.
Well we scheduled the captains meeting for 7am with the first match set to start at 8. I was there at 6am to make the last minute preps. Well in true PNG fashion, the first match didn’t start until 9:30 and there were no captains meeting at all! If you are a real stickler for timing and planning, this country could literally drive you bonkers!
When we sent out the invitations, we received 12 positive responses from villages around the valley. By the time the first game started, we had 6 teams, and two of those were our own! I was a little nervous, but an hour or so later, 2 more teams showed up and we held at 8 teams for the rest of the day.
The tournament was 8 v. 8 with small goals and small fields. We provided one ref per match, there were no off-sides, and subs were done on the fly. Part of my reason for this tournament was to see the quality of players that were around the valley. To be honest I was a bit disappointed. Our A Team (bright green and blue jerseys) came in 1st place, and our B Team (green basketball jerseys) came in 4th! I was expecting the competition to be more stiff, especially from the local national high school team. But we thoroughly whipped all our opponents!
That gave me pause to think about the viability of a valley all-star team. However, if the purpose of this team is to give our valley something to cheer for as a group, then I guess skill isn’t the only criterion for selecting players! The issue we face now is how to go about a selection process based on something other than skill. But I digress…
We were blessed with fantastic weather for the day and the pitch was just the right firmness. It had rained quite a bit in the week leading up to the event and I was nervous we would be playing in a swamp! We had two fields side by side so the crowd could easily watch both matches. Some people came to sell food and drink and overall it was a really good atmosphere.
In keeping with the whole “bringing people together” theme, I invited one of the local pastors to come and share a little bit about the vision for moving forward in peace and stability. There was a break between the semi-final round and the final match, so he got up, called the crowd together, and gave a short talk on Acts 2:42-47: The passage on the fellowship of believers. Then, per PNG custom, other important people in the crowd got up to say a few words. All were very gracious and spoke highly of this attempt to bring people together!
After all that, we played the final. Our A Team beat the A Team of the neighboring Ukarumpa village. The score was 3-nil and yours truly got the opening goal! (applause welcome). After that, the trophy ceremony, a thank you from me to the crowd, and everyone went home! It was all wrapped up around 6pm.
Overall, I think it was a successful day. I did hear complaints from the women around the valley! They wanted to play as well! So, I guess we will have another one sometime soon. However, the next tournament will have to be a multi-day event, and have women’s and men’s pools! I think a partnership with the national high school would help with that. We’ll see…
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