A 6-4 goal margin between a team of national and international players and a village team that comes from a football league made up of 4 clubs is a result that has raised a lot of eyebrows among national and local fans, as well as football leaders.
Iwoka United is a club from the Emae Football League, which is part of the Shefa Football Association. With only 4 clubs in the Emae FL, each club plays 6 matches in a complete football season. Additional matches are played during Independence Cup tournaments, and if they are fortunate, an end-of-year tournament.
During the Shefa FA Top 4 Challenge, Iwoka has played three matches, with one draw and two victories. Their qualification for the NSL Championships is a historic moment for Emae Football. Although players from the small Shepherds Group island have played for prominent clubs in Port Vila and national teams, it is the first time ever that a club from the Emae FL has qualified or reached the NSL stage.
In their first match of the Southern Region NSL playoff in Port Vila, they lost 2-4 to Tafea FA Champions LL Echo. On Saturday, they achieved what can be described as an “outstanding loss” to PVFA giants Galaxy FC. The final score was 6-4 in favor of Galaxy. The noteworthy aspect of the match was that no club in the PVFA Premier Division had scored that many goals against Galaxy, a team comprised mostly of national players and international imports.
Although they did not reach the semifinals, Iwoka United has set a record by scoring a total of 6 goals in two matches in their first-ever appearance at the VFF NSL Championships. They conceded 10 goals in the process.
