Komara Gulf F.C., currently known for as PRK Komara Gulf for sponsorship reasons, and formerly as Erema Gulf F.C., is a professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club representing the

Gulf Province Gulf Province is a province of Papua New Guinea located on the southern coast. The provincial capital is Kerema. The 34,472 km2 province is dominated by mountains, lowland river deltas, and grassland flood plains. In Gulf Province, the Kiko ...

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 ...

. The club was outgoing champion of now-defunct Papua New Guinea National Premier League, having won the title in 2018.

History

Foundation and early years

In July 2014, it was reported that a side representing the

, under the name of Erema Gulf FC, had submitted an Expression of Interest ahead of the 2015 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League. This was further boosted in October 2014 by a K45,000 payment from Petroleum Resources Kutubu, who would later go on to sponsor the team. However, their entry was not accepted. The following season, amidst an expanded field, the side successfully entered the competition, and were drawn into the Southern Conference. With

Hekari United Hekari United, formerly known as POM Souths, Souths United, PRK Souths United and Hekari Souths United, is a professional soccer club formed in 2006, based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The club holds the record for most titles in the Papua ...

winning every single match, there was a close battle for the second qualifying spot, with Erema falling three points short of Rapatona after three wins – against FC Port Moresby, PS United and Gigira Amoana – two draws and five defeats, including 3–0 and 9–3 defeats to Hekari. The side eventually finished 4th in the Southern Conference.

League split

As part of the domestic league split, Erema broke away from the

Papua New Guinea Football Association The Papua New Guinea Football Association, PNGFA is the governing body of soccer in Papua New Guinea. The PNGFA is a member of both FIFA and Oceania Football Confederation, OFC, having FIFA and OFC affiliation in 1966 after being founded in 1962 ...

and joined the rebel ''Football Federation of Papua New Guinea'', and for two seasons took part in its flagship competition, the

National Premier League The Jamaica Premier League (formerly the National Premier League), commonly abbreviated as JPL and officially known as the Wray and Nephew Jamaica Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is sanctioned by the Jamaican Football Federation as the ...

. The side were drawn into the Southern Conference and finished 3rd in the 2017 season, behind

and Papaka FC. In the 2018 season, the side were once again drawn into the Southern Conference, alongside Hekari,

Admiralty FC Admiralty Football Club, also commonly known as Admiralty FC, is a association football, football club which plays in the Division 2 of the Singapore Football League, the third tier of football in Singapore. The club is currently participating ...

and Gigira Amoana. With the sides only playing each other once, a 2–1 victory over Hekari United on 24 February 2018 was enough to see the side top the Southern Conference and progress to the Grand Final. There, they defeated

Morobe FC Morobe United FC, formerly known as Blue Kumuls (1970s–2005), Shorncliffe Blue Kumuls (2005), Tuguba Laitepo Blue Kumuls (2006), Morobe Kumuls FC (2007), Gigira Laitepo Morobe FC (2008–2014, exc. 2011–12 season), Gigira Laitepo Central Coas ...

4–3 to claim their first piece of domestic silverware.

Return to NSL

In January 2019, it was confirmed that the side would be returning to the now reunited National Soccer League for the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, once again taking part in the Southern Conference, under a new name – Gulf Komara FC. Former international goalkeeper David Aua was named head coach. The club had a moderate season, remaining in contention to qualify for the playoffs until the penultimate matchday, when a 0–0 draw with FC Bougainville put them too far from their rivals. The club eventually finished 6th out of eight sides. The side were one of ten teams who took part in the 2019–20 National Soccer League, and they enjoyed a much more successful season, despite a sluggish start. They lost five of their nine games in the first half of the season, sitting sixth at the halfway stage, but key victories against playoff rivals FC Bougainville and Vitiaz United saw them in contention going into the final day, and a 5–0 victory over Star Mountain combined with results elsewhere going their way saw them rise to fourth and qualify for the playoffs at the last possible instance. They were drawn against Minor Premiers Lae City in the playoff semi-final and narrowly lost 2–1, while a 5–0 defeat to Hekari United in the third-place playoff saw them finish the season in fourth.

League history

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" , +Gulf Komara league history !Season !Div. !Pos. !Pld. !W !D !L !F !A !Pts. !Playoffs !OFC? , - , colspan="12" ,

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

, - ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, colspan="11" rowspan="9" , ''did not enter'' , - , 2007–08 , - , 2008–09 , - , 2009–10 , - ,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, - , 2011–12 , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, - ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, - ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, - , 2015–16 , NSL
(South) , 4th , 10 , 3 , 2 , 5 , 15 , 25 , 11 , colspan="2", ''did not qualify'' , - , colspan="12" ,

, - , 2017 , NPL
(South) , 3rd , 10 , 4 , 3 , 3 , 21 , 18 , 15 , colspan="2", ''did not qualify'' , - , 2018 , NPL
(South) , 1st , 3 , 2 , 1 , 0 , 5 , 3 , 7 , style="background-color:#FE2", Champions , ''did not qualify'' , - , colspan="12" , National Soccer League , - ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, NSL
(South) , 6th , 14 , 5 , 2 , 7 , 23 , 21 , 17 , colspan="2", ''did not qualify'' , - , 2019–20 , NSL , 4th , 18 , 8 , 1 , 9 , 27 , 28 , 25 , 4th , ''did not qualify''

Honours

Domestic

Papua New Guinea National Soccer League The Papua New Guinea Premier Soccer League is the men's top division of professional association football, soccer in Papua New Guinea. It is a nationwide league formed in 2006 by Papua New Guinea Football Association. It replaced the Papua New ...

** Fourth place (1): 2019–20 * Papua New Guinea National Premier League ** Champions (1): 2018

References

Soccer clubs in Papua New Guinea Association football clubs established in 2015 2015 establishments in Papua New Guinea