Sport: Bougainville to make PNG National Soccer League debut

A team from Bougainville will make it's debut in Papua New Guinea's new-look National Soccer League this weekend and believe they have the ability to change the way football is played in the country.

The competition shrunk from 12 teams to as few as six over the past two years after seven local associations were suspended by the Papua New Guinea Football Association and went on to form a rival competition.

But, after the warring factions reunited at the end of last year, the NSL has been revamped for 2019 with 27 teams to compete across four conferences: Northern, Southern, New Guinea Islands and Highlands.

One of founders of Football Club Bougainville, Thomas Taberia, said the region has been wanting to test itself on the country's biggest stage for a while.

"We have actually been talking about it for the last three years but we delayed putting an expression of interest in with the National Soccer League until the politics in the game issue was resolved," he said.

"Eventually we now have a unified competition so yes we have finally entered a team in the National Soccer League."

An amateur team from the autonomous region of Bougainville already competes in the local Port Moresby Soccer Association competition and Thomas Taberia said Football Club Bougainville will draw on the foundations that have already been established.

"That club is made up of players from all over Papua New Guinea including Bougainville, so the bulk of the players we have sourced (to compete in the National Soccer League) come out of the local club, which is a Bougainville club in Port Moresby."

"National Soccer League is the pathway for our players at the amateur club level to apply their skills in the next level of the competition of the game in the country," he said.

Mr Taberia, who is also a club director, said FC Bougainville want to bring a new style of football to PNG.

"We have actually prepared well for the last three years in the local competition and we have a brand of football which is quite different from what football is played in the country," he said.

"We base our game on ball possession and we look at players who are very skilled and keep the ball and I think our brand of football can change the game in Papua New Guinea."

Football Club Bougainville will compete in the Southern Conference and will make their debut against former champions Hekari United on Saturday in Port Moresby.