Last December, the citizens of the Marshall Islands woke to an unexpected sight.
Mornings typically dawn with the horns of freighters pulling into the harbour, or with blinds pierced by the low glint of the sun that adorns the tiny Pacific nation’s flag.
On this day, events were different. As they ate breakfast, the inhabitants of Majuro, the Marshallese capital, were greeted by a parade of Argentine flags.
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Lionel Messi had delivered the South American nation its third World Cup trophy and the expatriate community, working in the Marshall Islands’ fisheries, had decided to celebrate.
This would be a strange sight under any circumstances, celebrating a game that finished after 5am in the morning local time and took place over 12,500km away.
But it was even more startling in the Marshall Islands, the last country on earth without a football team. For three years, a small group of volunteers, led by federation president Shem Livai, have been working to change that.
The Athletic first wrote about the Marshall Islands’ lack of a football team in November 2021. With a population of just over 60,000 people, scant space to play and it being firmly in the U.S. sporting orbit, football had never established a foothold across the thousand scattered islands which make up the country.
And there was another problem: the rising sea. Under current projections, the islands are forecast to be swamped by mid-century, extinguishing the nation’s nascent footballing dreams.
Reading this at home in the United Kingdom was Matt Webb, who has been involved in football administration throughout his life. “I just thought it was fascinating,” says Webb. “My day job is in marketing, so I knew I had some of the skills to help out. I reached out to Shem on every platform and offered to help.”
Unbeknownst to him, two more British volunteers were offering assistance: coach Lloyd Owers, who had been discussing football in neighbouring Samoa, and Justin Walley, who previously worked to establish a team in Matabeleland, a region of Zimbabwe.
“That article opened a lot of doors,” laughs Livai. “Lloyd contacted me out of the blue, two days before Christmas. Lots of people introduce themselves and disappear a few days later. But these guys have been instrumental in opening opportunities.”
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From abroad, Owers, Webb, and Walley have been supporting the Marshallese-based board. Owers is the new technical director, Webb in charge of marketing and sponsorship, and Walley looks after press.
There is an 11-hour time difference between the UK and the Marshall Islands, with meetings typically taking place late at night. Why not pursue coaching closer to home? “I never wanted to just be a local person,” says Owers. “I want to push myself and the opportunity to do something on a wider scale was massive. It wasn’t just about me, but raising awareness about climate change, raising awareness to promote a country which, unless you’re from Australia, New Zealand or America, you probably haven’t heard of.”
The ultimate goal is FIFA membership, playing in World Cup qualifiers as a member of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). “I still keep my boots with me,” jokes Webb. “I might have a Marshallese grandparent somewhere.”
That is still some distance away, though a new stadium, built for this summer’s Micronesian Games, now gives them the requisite facilities. High-quality Bermuda grass has even been imported from the United States. The problem is creating a national team in a country without a single registered adult player.
One solution is to target the adults of tomorrow. In the Marshall Islands, the notion that children are the future is particularly keenly felt — parents have begun naming children after vanishing coral reefs to keep the names alive.
“Kids are driving this, pushing this,” says Livai, who was inspired to start the federation after his son developed an interest in the sport but had nowhere to play. “They’re seeing it on TV, or on Kwajalein (an outlying atoll) where the U.S. military plays the sport.”
Very little football is currently played in the Marshall Islands, so we were especially delighted to receive this clip of some kids playing soccer during break time in one of our local schools 😍🇲🇭⚽ pic.twitter.com/MDxojr2LVS
— SoccerFedMI (@SoccerFedMI) March 25, 2023
Owers has been speaking to the education secretary and head of the country’s Olympic committee. After the Micronesian Games, he plans to fly to Majuro and begin training coaches in teaching the sport. In just three months of pushing, the football association has managed to introduce the sport to the national curriculum.
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“It needs to be a holistic package,” Owers says. “Educating teachers so we can grow the youth structure. Then, when locals become more heavily involved, we can start to launch a league structure.”
Historically, if played at all, football in Majuro has been extremely casual. Games often took place on a patch of grass in front of the Capitol building, with all ages playing together. The main island in the archipelago, the Majuro Atoll, is only 9.71 square kilometres and pitch space was impossible to find. But the new national stadium changes that.
“We can formalise a small league system now,” says Owers. “We’re looking at around six teams. Then we’re planning to partner with a corresponding league structure in Kwajalein. The winners of each will play against each other — Super Bowl style.”
“There might not be bells and whistles,” adds Webb. “But if we can actually put some fundamentals in place, which showcase how serious we are about the project, it will help when we want to join the OFC and FIFA.”
The aim is to launch a league by the end of the year, but looking further ahead, the federation has already begun to consider recruiting across the Marshallese diaspora. Over 20,000 people of Marshallese descent live in the United States alone, increasing the potential player pool by a third.
Though the majority live in Hawaii, there is also a surprisingly large population in Springdale, Arkansas, stemming back to the 1980s, when poultry supplier Tyson Foods relocated hundreds of Marshallese to the company’s head office.
The federation is crowdfunding for Owers’ trip to the Marshall Islands and hopes he can stop off in Arkansas en route to continue his recruitment drive. Webb envisages the first Marshallese international team being drawn from the home base and wider diaspora.
With such large aims, a compelling story, and a slick social media launch, the federation was overwhelmed with media requests in the first two months of 2023. “It went mental,” says Owers. “I felt like I was on a million podcasts.”
When The Athletic first covered their story, before interest had snowballed, COP26 had just taken place. That week, climate envoy Tina Stege told television channels: “We’re looking at a sea level rise of 0.5 metres, which means yearly inundations, and we need to start thinking about how we’re going to survive in a world (when temperatures increase by 1.5C).
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“I can’t accept the outcome that the Marshall Islands will be history in 50 years. I don’t think it’s acceptable to anyone in this world to write off a country.”
Eighteen months on, has anything changed?
“Understand this,” says Livai. “Climate change is every day for us. Go outside, see the water coming in (from storm surges). That is not normal. Maybe seasonally in January and February, but now it’s pretty much every day. Climate change is happening; it’s not about to happen. It’s happening in our backyards.”
The new national stadium was designed to include a sea wall in an attempt to mitigate some effects of the storm surges. However, for the Marshall Islands to be saved, there needs to be a reduction in carbon emissions. Those involved in the federation know that while football provides no solution, it does play a valuable social role.
“It gives locals an extra platform to showcase the nation,” says Owers. “Nobody knows what it’s going to look like and the country needs to be represented.”
“These changes on a global scale are irreversible,” adds Webb. “The community are trying to be strong, saying they won’t be displaced, or building back into the sea.”
One avenue explored by the advertising director is raising awareness through kit design. The desire is that the last country in the world to get a national strip will also have the most memorable. Last month, a call went out across the world asking for design ideas. The board have partnered with PlayerLayer, who also manufacture kits for eco-friendly club Forest Green Rovers, and intend to collaborate with local artists to highlight the nation’s climate plight.
2/3 pic.twitter.com/KAXPO6qhWX
— SoccerFedMI (@SoccerFedMI) March 22, 2023
The shirt will be available to buy by the end of the year and one potential idea is to only launch an away kit — highlighting that many Marshallese islands are expected to be permanently flooded by 2030.
Eighteen months ago, Reggie Waiti, the son of another board member, told The Athletic that one day he wanted to play for the Marshall Islands and “wear a kit the colour of the flag: orange, white and blue”.
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With a league system rapidly approaching, recent months have brought that dream closer to fruition. But what of Shem’s son, the reason the project began in the first place? “It’s a sad thing you know,” says Shem. “My son has stopped playing soccer. He’s middle-school age and all his friends have lost interest. Volleyball and basketball are dominant, plus there’s peer pressure — and video games.”
For a moment, he is quiet. But hope is still there.
“But wait until leagues start in the summer,” he adds. “Kids are now playing football during recess. We’ll ensure they can play it in the future. And my son can play with his friends.”
(Top photo: Majuro, capital of the Marshall Islands; by Slovem Jacob)
