Despite the introduction of some major changes in the management structure and competition format of the 2013 Telekom S-League has been successfully conducted both on the pitch and administratively.
A statement by Solomon Islands football federation (SIFF) said this is the opinion of the S-League board which was appointed to run the competition by the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) in July, 2013.
The S-League was set up by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) President, David Chung and endorsed by the former SIFF executive committee.
With very little resources to start with, the S-League board put together a 9-club competition and organised kick off on October 12 which featured Hana, Koloale, KOSSA, Malaita Kingz, Marist, Real Kakamora, Solomon Warriors, Western United and debutants X-Beam.
The playing of the final matches on Sunday signalled the end of a seven month event which spanned over 72 matches and over 30 match days. A total of 274 goals were scored during the season – an average of 3.8 goals per match.
Part of the success goes to Solomon Warriors who retained the title and will represent the country in the coming OFC champions league.
The Moses Toata coached side maintained a season long clean sheet registering 12 wins and 4 draws without a single loss scoring 58 goals in the process and conceding only 15.
Increasing public interest and support was also noted as a highlight for this season.
In the first two seasons there were poor turnouts.
As the season progressed more and more members of the community turned up at Lawson Tama to witness the matches during the weekends.
This according to the S-League board chairman, Loyley Ngira, is the pinnacle of the season’s achievements.
“We are pleased to see more people come out from their homes and watch football matches at Lawson Tama. That is one of our major goals as we try to rebuild the game in Solomon Islands and what we saw is very encouraging,” Mr Ngira said.
The success on the pitch aside, Ngira stated that the S-League board is pleased to say that administration of the competition has run smoothly despite newly implemented structures.
“The S-League board was put in place with barely two months to prepare for the season but it was able to oversee, not only the commencement of the competition, but its effective administration throughout. The establishment of the S-League manager position to supervise the competition is successful.”
In previous seasons of the competition, the S-League was managed internally by SIFF and run by the SIFF competitions department. A revolutionary step was taken to change this structure so that the competition is managed by an independent board with a manager that it appoints by itself.
However, Ngira stated that the support of the community and various stakeholders cannot be overstated and the S-League board offers its appreciation to business partners, clubs and the public for supporting the S-League.
“The S-League board wishes to offer its sincere appreciation to all the stakeholders and to all the fans who turned up throughout the season to support their clubs. We look forward to your support for the S-League in the future,” Mr. Ngira said.
Ngira also acknowledged SIFF for its governance input in the formation of the S-League board and management support for the S-League competition.
“The S-League board also thanks SIFF for having confidence in the board members to manage this very important competition. The continuous support of the Normalising Committee Chairman and his members contributed enormously to the success of the season,” said Mr Ngira.
