The past few months had been tumultuous for the Lae City FC; from its withdrawal in June from competing in the National Premier League season to losing their long-time sponsor – the Lae Biscuit Company.
When presenting their new jerseys on Saturday at the Lae Yacht Club, Lae MP and Deputy Prime Minister, John Rosso, commended them for their perseverance and said after much persuasion, he agreed to the Lae City Authority sponsoring the city’s “pride and joy”.
“I expect – not only me but our taxpayers – expect the best from you in terms of behaviour, in terms of playing,” said Rosso. “It’s not only about winning; in terms of being good ambassadors for our city, in terms of good sportsmanship – pasin blo kros pait lo fild em nogat. Pasin blo wok na plei gut na karim praid so that a lot of our young people in the city, they look upon you as their heroes.
“Wherever you go, where you carry yourselves, you should always carry with pride.
“The sponsorship from this end is from government so I have to follow government financial rules and regulations when I offer the sponsorship. It’s not from my own pocket money. That’s why I tried to ensure that accounts are opened properly, everything is done properly, there is accountability and when they spend the sponsorship money, they have to account it to me and the auditors.”
Of the K450,000 sponsorship, K150,000 was used to pay for affiliation fees.
Rosso said the LCA board has budgeted for and set the money aside; they are just waiting for the club to open a proper account for the balance to be transferred.
“I just want to assure you, do not stress over this. I know that coaches and management, some of the players have not been paid for a couple of months because of this transition period. Once everything is sorted, they will backpay everything. We will not just start and continue from there. We will backpay everything.”