Recent Notes 10: Mary Boio's world cup
11 August 2023
FOOTBALL WORLD CUP: THE PNG CONNECTION
Avid reader and creative commenter Lindsay Bond emails me a clip from the Sydney Morning Herald. It’s about ‘o jogo bonito’ (‘the beautiful game’, a slogan coined by the late Brazilian footballer, Pelé). Lindsay has uncovered a belated but bountiful pride in the sport. “Maybe I'm the last to learn,” he writes. “I'm sending [this email] to my mob. Keep onside! Mary is from Mosbi (Kira Kira) PNG and Cairns (yeah, NQ).” Such luminescence from Lindsay is a real collector’s item.
Lindsay, these days a Brisbane-based identity, is referring to Mary Boio Fowler, 20, daughter of Nido and Kevin, who plays club football for Manchester City and at the moment is a key player in the quest for World Cup glory by Australia’s national women’s football team, the Matildas. After they married, Nido and Kevin considered living permanently in PNG but finally opted to move to Cairns to provide better educational opportunities for their children. Mary came along on Valentine’s Day, 2003.
“She is the second-eldest of five football-mad kids who were raised in Australia, but with a deep and powerful connection to both sides of their heritage,” writes SMH sports journalist Vince Rugari. “Fowler might not be wearing PNG’s colours, but the country is still drawing immense pride and inspiration from her rise to the world stage.”
WEBSITE TAKES BUSINESS REPORTING UP A NOTCH
PNG Business News, the web-based newsletter that has set a new benchmark in quality information from PNG, has been named official media partner for the PNG Petroleum and Energy Conference (Port Moresby, 12-13 September) and has partnered with the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum for the PNG Asia Investment Conference (Hong Kong, 16-17 October). Link here to its website. PNG Business News has advertising and editorial spaces available with a deadline for submissions next Friday (18 August). Back in the day, the Chamber was a great supporter of the Crocodile Prize.
BRAIN BUSTER QUIZ FROM MICHAEL KABUNI
Michael Kabuni, publisher of the Academia Nomad blog, has developed a fascinating and (I say from personal experience after it humiliated me) a fiendishly difficult politics quiz. “I tried to keep it basic but allocated higher scores (as high as 3 points) if the questions are a bit different,” Michael writes. You can take the quiz here. Bragging rights apply if you score 24/24.
Mary Boio Fowler's father, Kevin Fowler, worked in Mt Hagen and Port Moresby. In Hagen he worked with the Wampnga company, Vegmark.
Kevin is originally from Ballymun in Dublin, Ireland. I would have met Kevin originally in Hagen and later visited Kevin, Nido (his wife) and family near Cairns. But that was many years ago.
Nido also worked in Dublin for a while.
Wishing Mary Fowler all the best in the coming games.
Posted by: Garrett Roche | 15 August 2023 at 01:20 AM
Quite a few websites incorrectly claim Mary is an Aboriginal Australian.
See: https://coopwb.in/info/why-does-mary-fowler-wear-black-gloves/#:~:text
“As an Aboriginal Australian, Mary’s choice of black gloves might also have cultural roots.... Black is considered a symbol of power and protection in some Aboriginal communities. Her gloves have thus become more than a style statement; they’re a part of her cultural identity.”
I'd also question the claim about the colour black being of significance in Aboriginal communities. Red is the most significant colour.
People love making stuff up on the internet.
________
“But I honestly just wear gloves because I get really fidgety. Usually I train with a ring on, but if it’s cold, I wear gloves, and I can’t wear a ring in a match, so I usually wear gloves” - Mary Fowler.
Also see Recent Notes 12, 'Why does Mary wear black gloves?' - KJ
Posted by: Philip Fitzpatrick | 13 August 2023 at 04:21 PM
Thank you, Keith, for Friday's translation triumph and trumpeting 'o jogo bonito'. 😎 On goal for the solidarity of Pacific peoples and Pacific leaders. Terimakasih atas dukungan anda pak. Thank you for your support, sir.
Posted by: Lindsay Bond | 12 August 2023 at 07:03 AM
Mary Boio Fowler - indeed. Nothing 'lost' about the way she plays 'o jogo bonito'. Quite the contrary. Her vision and precise skills in close quarters traffic is the hallmark of great player.
She engineered both goals in the match against Canada out of very little and with perfect precision.
When she moves with the ball it stays amazingly close to her feet. She is undoubtedly one of the very best women's footballers in the world today.
Posted by: Stephen Charteris | 11 August 2023 at 02:08 PM