MADANG soccer enthusiasts can now breath a sigh of relief after recieving news that their local side – Nabasa United FC – have been accepted in the National Soccer League competition.
Madang Agro Commodity Ltd (MACL) Nabasa United FC completed all the formalities of the registration process by paying K75,000 to join the semi-professional soccer competition last friday.
Franchise owner John Kambuaal surprised the NSL staff by fronting up at the PNGFA office at Boroko as they were in the process of writing a letter to him asking for payment.
Kambuaal said he was giving another chance to the youths of Madang to showcase their talent in the national arena.
“Our players will be selected from the six clubs in the Madang town competition while at the same time, we will keep our eyes open for talent in the rural competitions in the six districts of Madang."
He said a rural soccer tournament would be organised where each district would be invited to send representative teams to play. They would be competing for possible selection into the amateur Nabasa FC in Madang town.
He said if they continued to produce good form, there was a pathway available to continue on into the semi-professional football club.
However, there are conditions attached – the MACL-backed teams will not tolerate drugs and alcohol in the team.
“Nabasa FC will conduct training camps in various rural villages as a way of letting the people know that this is their team.
“We want to show people what Nabasa can do for the youths in the village, while also promoting the potential future stars in our area."
Kambuaal paid tribute to former soccer stars Tweedy Malagan, Danny Gabong and Neville Mileng for their persistency to get a Madang team back into NSL.
Madang last year had two teams – Madang Besta and Madang Fox. Both were kicked out of the competition because of poor performance and lack of support, financial and otherwise.
Kambuaal said what he was doing was for the youths of Madang to advance their knowledge and skills of the game and benefit from it.
Former Madang governor and MP Sir Peter Barter has lent his support to the club and offered his resort facilities for a fundraising dance on Oct 18.
He said he would be appealing to all Madang parliamentarians to support the team.
Nabasa are expected to host the second fundraising dance in November in Port Moresby.