The Subway Joeys have touched down in Honiara, Solomon Islands ahead of their opening match of the PacificAus Sports Football Tour.
Supported by the Australian Government through PacificAus Sports, the tour will see the Subway Joeys play two matches against Solomon Islands U-19 national team followed by one fixture against Vanuatua U-19s.
Landing at Honiara International Airport, players and staff were welcomed with traditional Saleolo dancing from the Solomon Islands' Isabel Province, and customary flower necklaces presented by the Solomon Islands U-15 girls’ team.
Subway Joeys head coach, Brad Maloney, said the team is delighted to be in the Pacific and is looking forward to the games.
“Australia and Solomon Islands have been great friends for many years, ever since our days back in Oceania,” said Maloney.
“Since we moved to the AFC we haven’t had a lot of opportunity to play each other or visit each other’s countries, so this tour gives us that opportunity and we’re very proud to be here.”
“This tour is a great opportunity for our players to visit Solomon Islands, explore the culture and challenge ourselves with a football match. We are playing older players than us so it should be a great physical challenge for the boys as well.”
For many Subway Joeys players, this marks their first overseas tour as footballers and is an important step in the preparation for their AFC U17 Asian Cup 2025™ Qualifiers to be contested in Kuwait between 19-27 October 2024.
Solomon Islands Football Federation President, Donald Marahare, said this tour is important for the development of football in the Pacific region.
“This is the beginning of a long-term partnership where our national teams can play against national teams of Australia, either in futsal or 11-a-side. It's very important for us in terms of development of our football teams,” said Marahare.
“What we will be witnessing within the coming days is about developing good form and developing youth who may become our national team base in the future.”
Ticketing information for all matches will be available via the Solomon Islands Football Federation and Vanuatu Football Federation. Broadcast information will be released in due course.
PacificAus Sports is an Australian Government sports diplomacy initiative developing pathways for Pacific teams and athletes to compete in elite competitions and access high performance coaching in Australia and internationally. The program partners with Australian national sports organisations to support a range of Pacific sports, with funding split evenly between women and men. PacificAus Sports also partners with the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) to promote Pacific sport through ABC Television’s ‘That Pacific Sports Show’ and ABC Radio’s ‘Fresh Off the Field’. The high-performance outcomes of PacificAus Sports are complemented by the Australian Government’s Team Up program, which focuses on sport for development in the Pacific. For more information about PacificAus Sports and its initiatives, visit www.pacificaussports.gov.au and follow PacificAus Sports on Facebook.
MATCH SCHEDULE – 2024 PACIFICAUS SPORTS FOOTBALL TOUR
Match One
Solomon Islands U-19 v Subway Joeys
Thursday, 15 August 2024
Kick-off: 6.00pm (local) / 5.00pm AEST
National Stadium, Honiara, Solomon Islands
Match Two
Solomon Islands U-19 v Subway Joeys
Sunday, 18 August 2024
Kick-off: 7.00pm (local) / 6.00pm AEST
National Stadium, Honiara, Solomon Islands
Match Three
Vanuatu U-19 v Subway Joeys
Wednesday, 21 August 2024
Kick-off: 3.00pm (local) / 2.00pm AEST
Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu