Auckland, 20 May, 2003: The Oceania Football Confederation president, Basil Scarsella, will officially represent FIFA at the inauguration ceremony of the Goal Project for Papua New Guinea on 24 May, 2003.
The Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA) had been informed that FIFA President, Joseph Blatter, was unable to attend because of a busy schedule but he promised a visit within the next three years. In his place, Mr Scarsella, who is a co-opted member of the FIFA Executive Committee, has been invited to jointly open the new fields, PNGFA headquarters and National Football Academy along with the PNG Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare.
It is an honour to represent both FIFA and the OFC at this important occasion for Papua New Guinea football,” said Scarsella.
We are pleased at the progress being made there at all levels of the game and confident the development of football will grow even more now with these new state-of-the-art facilities accessible to all stakeholders of the game in PNG.
The full OFC delegation to PNG comprises OFC President, Basil Scarsella, OFC Senior Vice President, Tautulu Roebeck (Samoa), OFC Vice President, Adrian Wickham (Solomon Islands) and OFC General Secretary, Josephine King.
A host of other dignitaries, officials and special guests from around the region are also invited to the inauguration ceremony. The occasion will be an historic moment for the PNGFA as it will relocate its headquarters to the site of the goal project in Lae, situated in the Morobe Province. Aside from the new headquarters, the Goal Project also includes a new two-storey accommodation building and educational centre capable of housing up to 30 people. Two international standard, sand carpeted, fully irrigated fields have also been constructed.
Papua New Guinea is the second OFC Member National Association to have a Goal Project inaugurated this year after Fiji’s inauguration on 8 February. The Cook Islands celebrated its ground breaking ceremony three weeks ago with inauguration set for December. The Goal Projects for Tonga and Vanuatu are currently under construction while American Samoa and New Zealand have been the latest national associations to receive approval from FIFA. The Solomon Islands and Samoa were chosen as pilot projects and had their Goal Projects completed in 2001.
The FIFA Goal Programme was initiated by President Joseph S. Blatter for the benefit of national associations, and ratified by the 1999 Extraordinary FIFA Congress in Los Angeles. Goal is a tailor-made development and assistance programme designed to realise projects based on the specific needs of national associations.
Photo: OFC President, Basil Scarsella