The Spartans rugby league club have showcased their best performance during the Ezi Cruzers Mayor’s 7s over the weekend at the DWU Rugby Oval in Madang. The two-day tournament was hosted by Divine Word University.
Spartans Coach, Joseph Mocke Jnr, said that the team which consists of young talented Madang youths, performed so well thus leading them to the grand finals.
“I was very happy for the way my team executed the game on Saturday and on Sunday as well for the grand final.”
“I didn’t expect them to be fully prepared as we had only trained for two weeks however, I was really proud of the turnout of the games in which we took out fourth place,” Mocke said.
The Spartans coach said that though the team had lost to the 6B Pirates on Sunday, being in the grand final alone really showed how far they had come as a team in terms of performance which gives them hope to do more activities of such nature in order to keep the team spirit burning.
“For me personally as a PNG Pukpuks World Cup 7s rep, I love what I do because it’s one way in which I can give back and share to the community what I’ve learnt at the international stage with respect to rugby,” Mocke said.
Mocke further stressed that the main purpose of creating the team was basically to provide an opportunity for the youths to get themselves involved in positive things that will enrich their lives and in turn refrain from getting involved in negative activities.
“We encourage participation from youths in the community to help them to change bad habits and at the same time create a platform for change through sports.”
“This activity will help change their mind sets and influence them to take responsibility for their actions and to be respectful members of the community,” said Coach Mocke.
Mocke added that most of these youths are unemployed which causes them to resort to petty crimes, therefore, sporting activities and initiatives like the Ezi Cruzers Mayor’s 7s are good for them to get themselves occupied.
The tournament itself consisted of twelve teams including, the winning team which was the 6B Pirates who went home with the grand prize of K1, 000.
Mocke expressed his thanks to the Madang Town Mayor, Mr. Ishmael Yama for his efforts in sponsoring the tournament and hopes that this is just the beginning of more sporting activities to come.