Hammersmith Resident Becomes Coach of Pohnpei.
Paul Watson, of Hammersmith, and Matthew Conrad, of Kensington, both 25, will soon fly to Pohnpei, in the western Pacific Ocean, in September, who are officially the world's worst football team.The pair hope to turn around the team's fortunes by next summer.
Pohnpei, the largest of the four island clusters forming the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), was introduced to football in 1985 by an expat from Ghana but the island has never won a match.
The state has been ranked last in the world by the Nouvelle Federation, an association of football-playing countries not even recognised by football's world governing body, FIFA.
Watson was a sports writer and Conrad, a film student who has been studying in the US. They came across Pohnpei while researching for a documentary and have now been officially appointed by the Pohnpei Soccer Association as managers to the team.
In 2003 Pohnpei players played their last international match, with eight players joining the FSM team at the South Pacific Games.When they came back the team disintegrated and from 2003 onwards international competitive football ended.
The Londoners visited the Pacific state for the first time in July. Mr Watson said: "We ran training sessions and between 13 and 25 people turned up for the sessions depending on the weather. Some people walked 5km (3.1 miles) each way from their homes everyday in driving rain with no shoes."
They plan to go back to the island on 17 September, and their long-term ambitions do not simply focus on the team winning their first match. They plan to establish a winning side in the South Pacific, before achieving world dominance.
August 14, 2009
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