The Marshall Islands, which are isolated at a 14 -square miles covering the Pacific 750,000 square miles, may be the final frontier of the most popular sports in the world. It claims that it is the last country on the earth without a soccer team, and the islands have never held 11 games.
Until recently, soccer was an alien of the country occupied by the United States since World War II. Baseball and basketball were traditional sports. Another barrier has appeared as interest has increased in recent years. The land is always premium on these fragile coasts, but now the sea level rises does not cause permanent flood fear.
The sea around these islands has risen 3.4 mm a year since 1993, more than twice the global average. The complete rise of one meter will leave the most population inmaciace destroyed by permanent flooding. More than that, the Marshall Islands can be wiped from the map. This country’s first full -size soccer pitch, built for last year’s micronesian game, was approved only on the condition that the most population Atoll would function as a sea defense.
Marshall people train at the stadium that also serves as the sea defense against the rise of the marine level. Photo: Calling C Rin
In this remote area of the Pacific Ocean, there is a history of environmental atrocities. The Marshall Islands were more than 60 US -led nuclear testing locations between 1946 and 1958, and more than one -third was held in bikini, the worst atoll. Serious health issues from the future fears of floods have remained since that era, which means that the population of expatriates has doubled since 2010.
During this unstable situation, the first Football Federation of the Marshall Islands was established in 2020 to sustain the game. A small number of people are recruited, and the team is built, young coaches, and Light -like advertising on the island. Many of them are located in the UK, 8,000 miles away, as the commercial director Matt Webb and the coach of the first team of boys, LLOYD OWERS.
After reading an article on the mission of building the first Marshall’s soccer team, webb contacted Federal President Shem Levi and provided his service free of charge. “He set up a FA because his son was in soccer,” said Wepb, and Levi initially added that he was convincing. “After all, he said:” What is the worst you can do?
In the case of WebB, other people, including Owers and Katie Smith, recently created the first women’s team coach in the Marshall Islands. “How can I compete from Absolute Zero to compete in the World Cup qualifying?” Wepb asks. “We have not received external funds, so we rely on subsidies, donations, and product sales.”
The latest projects inspired by The Blue and Orange Marshallese Flag, released in 2023, and the new “Home Jersey”. The world temperature rises as a fatal turning point by the Pacific Country, decorated with the unique botanical phase, animal phase, and cultural emblem, with a number of 1.5 as a fatal turning point.
The “disappearance” kit of the Marshall Islands. Photo: Marshall Islands Football Federation
The shirt attracted fans’ attention when it was released online before the strange thing began to happen. In each photo posted on the social media, the shirt scrap disappeared with a clear message. “In existence, the country is facing a big crisis due to climate change,” says Webb. “We not only wanted to make things that celebrate the country, but also to pay attention to the fact that there was a very realistic threat.”
Everywhere in the Marshall Islands, web has seen his own effects, not even the risk of floods, even in the president’s house. “When you are on the island, you can see the impact of your daily life. There is a risk from the rise, storm, and flooding, and people build a sea wall outside the house. You have to try to protect them.
He recalls the day when the coach group wanted to participate in the first domestic tournament in Majuro. “We were hit by an absolute flood. Even if the pitch was hidden, people could not get there for the flood. It is a tropical island, but the rain is very fierce. So it happens very quickly.
Majuro Atoll is exposed to the threat of sea level rise. Photo: kkvintage/getty images/istockphoto
Most of the Majuro population is Delap -Uriga Dalit or CONURBATION, known as DUD, and is narrowed down to the eastern end. “We’ve been thinking about approaching Lolly Delap for sponsorship,” said Webb. Other points of the Atoll, such as Jen Rock, where the new stadium was built, the entire width of the land may be intersected by trademark Delaplor Throw.
The coaching team separates traveling abroad between Majuro and small towns in Springdale, Arkansas. As a headquarters of poultry producers with a connection with the island, it did not become the center of Marshall’s life beyond the Pacific Ocean. Springdale was a place for four -day women’s futsal and five indoor football -camp earlier last year. There, the player traveled from Texas and California and tried it as an international player.
“We have identified potential players by searching for word -of -mouth and online,” says webb. “We have paid people’s travels and accommodation facilities (12 hours ahead of the United Kingdom (we have paid for Arkansas, and the price of accommodation. The webb balances his spontaneous role and marketing work.
But sometimes, the logistics headaches of Oceania soccer are playing their hands. “We were going to travel to our nearest neighbor, Kiribati, for futsal games,” he says. “In the last minute, they had to cancel, so we invited another team, Micronesia instead. Kiribati decided that they didn’t want to miss it, so we accidentally international. We held a soccer tournament!
Since more basketball coats are used than soccer pitches, coaching to the island is currently switching to futsal. Photo: Calling C Rin
This expresses a dramatic change in the webb that came from coaching at schools and universities and started up from the Sunday League level. “There are some exchanged skills,” he says. “If you can get 11 players on a wet cold morning on Sunday, you can do anything.”
The newly formed Marshall Federation has built things slowly. Soccer on a curriculum nationwide, help senior players get used to grass play, and expand their weekly coaching sessions to groups of about 100 youth beyond maguro. Nevertheless, a ticking clock caused by the climate crisis needs to make some difficult decisions.
“International soccer is expensive,” says Webb. “There are infrastructure such as stadiums, hotels, and airports, but due to the lack of regular funds, it will expand further in a sustainable way.” The Marshall Islands are Oceania Football Union (OFC). ) I applied to participate.
Areas with the altitude of Majuro land in 2021 and the risk of permanent floods
I learned that there were so many shift disorders in their way, and that web and his team were flexible. As we arrived on an island with a much larger indoor basketball coat than open glass space, their coaching focus was shifted to Futsal. Hosting the first 11-A-Side game with grass is still an important ambition. “I want to say this year (it will happen), but that’s a big result,” he says.
There is a marshall proverb that says, “If you drop it together, the sea will make the sea and the sand grains create an island together.” From an atomic bomb to the future, which is threatened by the rise in the tide, this is where you learned how small victory can be added in a bigger battle for survival. Soccer may have not played any role in the history of the island, but may play an important role in the future.
