HONIARA: The Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) unveiled its new semi-pro soccer competition, the S’League, last weekend with three great matches being played in front of capacity crowd at Lawson Tama Stadium in Honiara.
The S’ League has breathed fresh life into Solomons football. Soccer is regarded here as a religion in the tiny pacific island nation with a population of just over 200,000 and the huge turn out at Lawson Tama was a manifestation of that, despite the rain which did nothing to deter the fans from witnessing the opening matches. SIFF had anticipated a good turn out as each of the franchise clubs has their own large group of followers in Honiara.
Systek Kingz and Eastern Knights opened the league with a very fast paced match. Former Mount Albert Grammar High School student Jerry Allen put the Kingz ahead when he slotted in a Michael Misitana cross before half time. Young Misitana was the same player who provided the lethal cross for Commins Menapi’s match winner when they beat rivals Laugu FC in the Honiara Cup Challenge in 2003. He was in a devastating form and had been causing problem for the Knights defenders throughout the entire match.
Going one up into the breather was enough to give Systek boys a push when they returned for the second half.
The Knights, without their inspirational coach player, Andrew Misitomu, missed the clinical finishing despite having an edge in speed in their forward line They came so close to scoring and appeared destined to bring the match to equal terms but were unable to capitalise.
Then the turning point came when match referee, Nelson Sogo awarded Kingz a controversial penalty. Misitana who drove through the Knights defenders appeared to have been brought down inside the 18 yards box and Sogo without hesitation pointed to the penalty box. Knight’s players protested and threatened to walk off the pitch, however, their club manager intervened and managed to convince the players to return to the pitch. Allen took the spot kick and booked his second goal for the day and handing the Kingz a 2-0 victory.
In the second match, a youthful East Harbour Strikers humbled Agfa Hana – a club made up of mostly experienced players some of whom are in the youth and senior national team squad.
National Under 23 player Lency Saeni, scored a double with individual goals from Peter Kiriau, Hudson Kwasi and Leslie Kakai to see off a disappointing challenge from Agfa. National team defender Marhlon Hou kept Agfa’s danger man Mark Mehau in check all the time making it difficult for him to find his target.
However, Mehau managed to slip past the Strikers defenders and tapped in their consolation goal before fulltime to make the final score 5-1 in favour of the Strikers.
The final match of the evening was between JP Su’uria and Fairwest. JP Su’uria with the services of former Australian NSL stars Commins Menapi, Batram Suri and young sensation Alick Maemae were predicted to win the match and could easily have been dubbed the Real Madrid of Solomons football. The bulk of the players, are members of the senior national team and the Olympic team, which made them a team to watch out for.
Fairwest on the other hand had the service of former national players and a couple of current squad players under the captaincy of senior national team skipper Gideon Omokirio.
Su’uria started on the front foot making raids into the Fairwest territory and Maemae whose skills often kept defenders guessing, slotted home the opening goal with only minutes gone. Menapi, Suri and National Under 23 midfielder George Lui also contributed goals for an easy 4-1 win. Fairwest managed to pick up a consolation goal through young and upcoming talent Clifford Kakai. Kakai had caught the selector’s eyes for his speed and skills upfront and it did not come as a surprise when he scored which was just reward for his effort in the losing side. – by Francis Pituvaka/SIFF Media Officer