Passion for football brings Walker to Honiara
Englishman Keith Walker’s passion for football has brought him around the globe to Honiara for the matches between the Solomon Islands and Australia.
Walker, 66, is not new to the nation having graced the shores of the happy isles when the Solomon Islands went through its worst years in its young history.
He came in 2003 to visit the country at the time the senior national team was preparing for the South Pacific Games in Fiji.
He had wanted to see the national team play but had to leave early because of tight flight schedules.
Despite this, he did not give up and this year, he learned about the Solomon Islands playing Australia in the home and away World Cup Playoff and committed his funds to be part of the event.
Over the weekend Walker was in Sydney watching the all-Europe based Australian soccer team taking on the Solomons.
Regardless of the result, watching the Solomon Islands play gave him such satisfaction that he extended his trip to include Solomon Islands home game.
So far Walker has seen over 100 international matches and will continue to do that until he can no longer travel.
“There are 205 countries that are members of the FIFA and so far I have watched 106 international matches involving national teams of 106 countries”
He says he will be around for the next couple of days and would like to encourage all soccer loving Solomon Islanders to come out and give their national team all the support they need.
“This is definitely going to be a big thing for Solomon Islands and despite going down to Australia in the first leg, that should not discourage you,” Walker added.