Fatima Rama (born 28 January 1981) is a Papua New Guinean

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and rugby player. She played as a forward in football for the

Papua New Guinea women's national football team The Papua New Guinea women's national soccer team is controlled by the Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA). Its nickname is the Lakatoi, ''Lakatois'', which is a Motuan sailing vessel. Their home ground is the Sir Hubert M ...

. She has also represented PNG in

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

and fifteens.

Career

Rama was a senior women's national team representative in football (soccer) before she switched codes to become a rugby union player.

2018

Rama competed at the Oceania Rugby Women's Championship, she scored a try against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

in the tournament's opening match, however, her side lost 45–56.

2019–21

At the 2019 Sydney Women's Sevens, she scored a stunning try in the first half against the Black Ferns sevens despite her team's 38–5 loss. In April 2019, she was named in the sevens squad to compete at the Hong Kong Women's Sevens to qualify as a core team for the 2019–20 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series. Rama represented

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

in sevens at the

2019 Pacific Games The 16th Pacific Games (), also known as Apia 2019, were held from 7 to 20 July 2019. The Games were held in Apia, Samoa, returning there for the first time since 2007. It was the third time overall that the Pacific Games were held in Samoa. The ...

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. The Apia Urban A ...

. In 2021, due to her success in rugby union, the Satellite 7s executives decided to introduce the women's competition in hopes of finding more female players like her.

2023

Rama was the oldest player, at age 41, to take the field at the 2023 New Zealand Women's Sevens in January. She also competed at the 2023 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in April; she scored a try for PNG against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in their ninth-place semi-final, her side lost 7–44. Rama was named in PNG's fifteens squad for the 2023 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship in

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately south-southeast of the centre of the list of Australian capital cities, state capital, Brisbane. It is ...

. She started in the opening game of the tournament against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

, her side were scoreless in their 77–0 loss.

References

1981 births Living people Women's association football forwards Papua New Guinean women's soccer players 21st-century Papua New Guinean sportswomen Papua New Guinea women's international soccer players Papua New Guinean female rugby union players Papua New Guinea international women's rugby sevens players Place of birth missing (living people) Pacific Games bronze medalists for Papua New Guinea Pacific Games medalists in rugby sevens Pacific Games silver medalists for Papua New Guinea {{PapuaNewGuinea-women-footy-bio-stub