Nauru have high hopes: “If we don’t play at least one match, I will see 2024 as a failure”
The smallest nations of Oceania have all gotten the ball rolling, on getting the ball rolling on the pitch.
The Marshall Islands hired a technical director, have started selling shirts, as have the Federated States of Micronesia, and have hopes of playing a match this year.
Nauru have also long been without a larger plan, but in the last days of last year, it was announced that they had hired a coach and gotten a board together, where Briton Gareth Johnson joins on with FA Preident Kaz Kain.
- READ MORE: This is the real state of soccer in Nauru
Paul Watson, who is the man with his finger on the pulse for both the Micronesia and Nauru projects, introduced Johnson to Kain back in 2020, but then Covid got in the way of plans truly materializing. But now they have.
“I am essentially in charge now of leading the project and have joined the NSF board, of which Kaz is now President”, Johnson tells Football in Oceania.
Welcome to the #nauru soccer federation, the chief promoters of soccer in the #reoublicofnauru – exciting updates to follow
— Nauru Soccer (@nauru_soccer) January 19, 2024
And he promises he won’t be a figure that will disappear after a short while.
“I regularly visit Nauru through my main business, the travel agency Young Pioneer Tours, so I do not really see an end date (for himself). If we can keep growing this then there really is no end game.“
Now they hope to get the project of the ground.
“In the short to medium term getting a Nauru representative team to participate in a tournament, perhaps initially at futsal, while making a national jersey that can be sold in order to raise funds for the organization. Long term? OFC membership, a domestic league and a thriving soccer in Nauru scene”, Johnson says.
And if you are an avid groundhopper with some budget, perhaps a futsal tournament with fellow Oceania teams, might tempt you?
Johnson says they certainly hope that could be achieved.
“We are actively trying to put together a Futsal tournament this year and have already talked to Palau, Kiribati and Tuvalu. If we do not play at least one match in a Nauru kit I will see 2024 as a failure,” Johnson says.
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