Turiti Boso may be unknown to many Solomon Islanders but this person has a special relationship with SIFF through his late son Allan Boso. He recently paid a visit to the academy which was named after his late son who was a former president of SIFF. Accompanying him were former MP for North New Georgia Job Duddley Tausinga and two of his cousins Abel Karina and Spencer Manga.
It was a moving moment for Turiti who learnt about the academy through the media and had all along planned to pay a visit. At the academy SIFF General Secretary Eddie Ngava warmly received the party and after brief introduction took them on a guided tour around the complex.
Ngava told Turiti that the construction of the academy was one of Allan’s visions saying it was only proper that it was named after him.
Turiti who now lives a quiet life at Madou Village, Vona Vona lagoon, spoke of his son as someone who was passionate about football from his early age. The late Boso, who happened to be his eldest son, started playing soccer seriously when he attended King George VI school and later on in Fiji when he attended the University of the South Pacific. Upon his return, he continued his soccer career with Kakamora and later on he got himself more involved with administration.
During those years there was no proper office so he had to work from his Concrete Industries office. When he passed away, former MP for Vona Vona and Central New Georgia Peter Boyers who worked with late Allan handed over all the papers relating to SIFF to Adrian Wickham who took over as the new president.
There was no office so Wickham like his predecessor, had to use his NFD office to run SIFF matters. It was not until 1999 that the SIFF office was finally established after FIFA indicated to Wickham that they would start channeling funds through if it had a proper office. The former SIFF president took it upon himself to set up the office and also paid for salaries of the current president Martin Alufurai and General Secretary Eddie Ngava.
Today the SIFF office is located in the newly constructed Allan Boso complex which is a fitting gesture to the greater leader who sacrificed his time and resources in the early years to ensure football in Solomon Islands continues to prosper.
In his brief comment Turiti thanked SIFF for naming the complex after his son and wishes the federation every success in the future. Boso is my father’s name and we have a great respect for SIFF for choosing to use this name. For sure we will all die but this name will remain for a long time into the future,” he adds. Turiti also thanked Tausinga for his assistance which enabled them to visit the Allan Boso Academy.