NMIFA welcomes Remington to men’s league

Northern Marianas Islands Football Association will start the 2009 season of the NMIFA Men’s Football League this Sunday at the Oleai Sports Complex with a new team in Remington.

Remington will join six other teams in their bids for the championship trophy. Making another appearance in the men’s league are Inter Godfather’s, Matansa Football Club, Independent Football Club, MP United, Korea One, and FC Arirang.

Brad Ruszala, who is coordinating the event, along with Jaime Saiki, said local organizers are looking forward to one of the most competitive seasons in the league with the addition of Remington in the field.

“Remington pulled talented players from a number of clubs, so they should be a threat right from the start,” Ruszala said in an email to Saipan Tribune.

Ruszala is reminding players to pay the $25 registration fee and submit entry forms to NMIFA’s office at the third floor of TSL Plaza in Garapan on or before the second week of the season. He added teams have until the end of the first round to settle the $300 team entrance fee or face forfeiture of their remaining games.

The complete schedule of the games for the first round will be released tomorrow.

The last time NMIFA hosted a men’s event was in November when it held the fall league.

Inter-Godfather’s outlasted MP United-PTI in a shootout, 5-4, to rule the 2008 NMIFA Men’s Football Fall League.

CNMI National player Peter Loken scored the winning goal, hitting one to the upper right corner to give Inter-Godfather’s three championship trophies in 2008. Inter defeated Onwel, 1-0, in the finals of the President’s Cup Football Tournament in March last year and FC Arirang, 2-1, in the 2008 Saipan Cup in August.

Only four teams competed in the fall league with the list including Independent Wild Bill’s and Multinational FC. The four teams played in a double round-robin regular season and then went through a crossover semifinals format in the playoffs.

Inter-Godfather’s was seeded first in the playoffs, collided with Multinational FC, and won the semifinals, 1-0. The third-seeded MP United-PTI pulled off a 2-1 upset over the second-ranked Wild Bill’s in the other semis pairing to arrange a title duel with Inter-Godfather’s. Wild Bill’s finished third place after blanking Multinational FC in the consolation game, 2-0.

For more information about the upcoming men’s league, contact Saiki at 287-9810 or Ruszala at 287-2723.