A milestone in the development of football in Samoa was fulfilled today with the official launch of the Savaii Clubs new uniform and the presentation of ‘sports gears’. The Football Federation Samoa (“FFS”) Executive Committee and CEO attended the handover of uniforms and gears where funded by FIFA through its FIFA Forward Project under the Competition Upgrade and Club Assistance.
Five Savaii Football Clubs “Salelologa Football Club, Vaiafai Football Club, Mckay Football Club of Lalomalava, Sapapalii Football Club and Saipipi Football Club were the grateful recipients of this assistance.
President of FFS Papalii Samuel L Petaia who is also a lawyer by profession delivered the keynote address and conveyed their appreciation of the Football Clubs in Savaii particularly their role in ensuring the game is played and developed within Savaii. “Without Clubs, football will not exist and development initiatives supported by the FIFA Forward Project cannot be implemented.”
Papalii stated that FFS believes in the development of football talent from grassroots to senior division, Club development and also strives to provide the infrastructure in terms of playing fields for Clubs to utilize for training, tournaments as well as providing an opportunity for Samoa to host international tournaments.” That is why FFS has acquired land at the Apia Park fields to roll outs its new project with the support of the Government. The development of the Apia Park Fields will not only lift the standard of football development in Samoa but aims to provide a much needed state of the art football fields showcasing Samoa’s ability to host international tournaments.
The President went on to say that there are a lot of children in Savaii with talent and potential to excel in soccer and that is why FFS have come out to Savaii to meet the Clubs and distribute the same. “FFS is also well supported by FIFA and OFC with sports gear thus the opportunity to come out to Savaii and acknowledge the contribution and participation of each Club is significant as we want to assure our stakeholders that we offer the same support accorded to the Upolu Clubs to the Savaii Football Clubs.”
The same sentiments were echoed by the Savaii Manager and Head of Technical Tala Salamasina, “we understand the difficulties our people have when trying to organize uniforms and gear for their teams – and we hope that this donation to our teams will go a long way towards encouraging the young players to continue with our sport”. “I would like to acknowledge the support of the FIFA Forward program for making this possible”.
The uniforms and football gears are timely in assisting clubs prepare for the Savaii League which will kick off in a few weeks’ time.
The launch of the Savaii Clubs Uniform runs in conjunction with the Women’s Football initiative which was launched last week and equally aims to solidify football as a main sport in Samoa.
The FFS Executive are in Savaii for 2 days to scope prospective development iniatives that will assist in the improvement and participation in soccer and as well as identify areas for proper team management amongst registered Savaii Clubs. This is also in line with some of the Core Objectives of Football in Samoa which is to increase participation, encourage participation in soccer, professional soccer development and no one is left behind.
New clubs are welcome to seek information from the Savaii Office Manager Papalii Tala Salamasina on email tsalamasina.ffs@gmail.com or 7258784.
