So without any further ado, wasting no time as the man. The man is ready to go. It is like early afternoon, so nine plus five is fourteen, so it's a little after two o'clock in the afternoon on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
What show gives you that? I think ours none others?
We bring in Lloyd Ours TD for the Marshall Island Soccer Federation.
How are you, my friend.
I'm good, I'm good. I'm a little bit nasily. We're struggling with hay fever.
Here in the UK. But good to be back mate.
Always a pleasure, yep, I am right there with you. Allergies are with me.
You know, when we figured out that you could do this on a quick turn, I was trying to figure out what gear to wear.
And obviously I appreciate it.
Well.
I had to go with this because if I wore the the the newer one of the two, than it would end up being like just massive flares and no one could actually see my face, which might actually be an improvement.
But but I figured I.
Would go and bust out the og, the og jersey and the reason that I wanted to bring you on, and you and mad or anybody else that could answer the sirens song this morning? Is that for those that have been keeping track of a particular Kickstarter project about what the desire was for the Federation, and it's august In, Arkansas, which sounds like some kind of a Norman rockwall painting. August In, Arkansas actually is going to happen because you made your number on the Kickstarter project.
When did you find out that you made the number?
Well, I have to be like the damper on it slightly only because so we found out as it was rolling. I don't know about Matt and Justin, but we were like refreshing out our feets every every hour, it seemed.
And then someone beat us to it.
So we have a guy called Woody Watson who is Arkansas based and has doing a lot of legwork on the ground for us, and he beat.
Us to it.
He put it into our little WhatsApp group and if you made it, so we reached that twenty thousand pound and I think it's about twenty six thousand dollars, which is amazing, and to be honest, yet that that covers a big chunk of the funding needed.
I guess.
The big thing for us now is we do need an extra push, which we're going to try to do from sponsorships. So the twenty grand will twenty thousand pound will cover our accommodation. So not only do we have to cover ourselves and give ourselves somewhere to stay for our team as a host nation, we have to provide that for the visit in nations as well. So food and accommodation is put on by the host nation, which is US, so that covers that, which is fantastic. Now
we've got the big push to get us there. So that's where the sponsorship's going to come in. Hopefully we can find someone that wants to put their name, you know, their company's brand in across the It could be the headline sponsor, you could be sponsoring goalkeeper gloves, whatever it may be, balls, match day experience, whatever it may be. But that's where this sponsorship drives down going to come But yeah, the big chunkers is gone, which is amazing.
What has it been like for all of you guys to come up with this idea? Well, first off, where did you come up with the kickstarter idea to try and see if that would help.
To be honest, it was Matt. I don't think I can take credit for it. I don't think anyone else can as well.
It was Matt's idea because we had the go fundme patron when we first started, which everyone seems to be doing it, you know, everyone has that approach. With the Kickstarter, it seems a little bit cooler because the draw and the sort of the appeal of the Kickstarter is you risk it, you have it all, or you lose it. So we set the bar high, but by on in mind to run the tournament itself is going to be around seventy thousand, sixty thousand pounds. We have unfortunately had
Guam that are dropped out, which is a shame. But in the one hand, it makes it easier to frustrating a little bit money, so it does drop it slightly. On the other side, it makes it sad that they couldn't take up because they're a big ally that we wanted to use. But yeah, with the Kickstarter, we knew the figure. But at the same time, if you don't hit the limit is, yeah, you lose.
Whatever's in there.
So you might be, you know, five pound five dollars short, but you lose whatever's in there. So we thought, well, we're too risky to put the full of out. We've put twenty thousands, and yeah, we fortunately made it. But I think we've twelve days to spare as.
Well and to have this kind of attention to an idea. How wide ranging has it been where fox have been able to sit there and express interest in the project. How many folks have been reaching out? Hasra WhatsApp group been blowing up from all around the planet.
Oh, honestly, honestly, Like I think we've got about ten new WhatsApp groups now because we self and Matt and just didn't have one anyway. Then we had like board ones, and we had ones with just a couple of people of Markansas. Now we've got ones with people that are running it in terms of setting the things up for us, so we you know, we want a certain venue, we wanted for certain times, want practice at certain times for all the teams. But we are the other side of
the world. We're collecting with people twelve hours ahead and also six hours behind, so collaborating rather. So we've got Woody that's doing that for us. But yeah, then we've got other groups as well. So we've had a fortunately had a group of I want to say, six or seven people that have expressed interest in just helping with ideas and sharing it and they've created a new WhatsApp group. But no, it's been amazing, and you know, the press
we've had from it has been has been great. As usual, We've got to keep the momentum going and keep the message in.
The in the media from now.
Anyway, how did you come up with Springdale as your venue?
I can't remember if we've spoken about it before. I'm pretty sure we have, but I'm not sure. But yeah, Springdale is like the hub of non RMI based communities, is the largest Marshal Lease community based outside of the Marshal Lands itself. Whenever we've done anything in terms of the US based activity, these women's camp stuff like that, it's been in Arkansas especially, you know, mostly around Springdale, So whenever we look at doing activities in the US,
it'll always be based in Springdown. Now we felt that, yeah, this is this is where we should be. We in a ground scheme of things. You probably look at it and think we wanted to be a Magoro, But for a first game, it was difficult to get the buy in from people to come to Madro being honest, because it's so expensive and there's a risk for them, whereas
we've had really good relations with conquer Caffe Nations. We reached out to a few a lot of people wanted to come back but couldn't quite make it work, but US, Virgin Islands and Turks and Kkos could and we felt then that, you know, the US is the place to be for us, So that's where we chose.
And the for those that may not know, it's right there in that four Corners area where it's northwest Arkansas. Then if you flip and go across the border into Oklahoma, there's some that are there on the eastern side of that border, right up there in that that cross section of Missouri and Kansas and Oklahoma and Arkansas.
And it looks like the venue that you.
Maybe right now that is looking like it's going to be Springdale High School right there right in the heart of the whole thing.
Yeah, so it's and that's an impressive venue as well. It really is impressive, and yeah, we're looking forward to playing. It really is amazing that like for us, you look at schools here, any sport, it's just a field, you know, for any sport, but to play in a six or six thousand capacity stadium which is a high school is
absolutely mind blowing for us. But yeah, amazing in the sense that we're going to play there, and it only gives us inspiration when you look at nations like Greenland for example, with their Conker Caffe applications at the moment, and you think, yes, we are technically that side of the world. We're in a different region, but we have such good political ties to the US, we have good transport links to the US, we have good relations with CONQUERCAF nations.
Why don't we put on our show and.
See what we can do and see where it takes us.
I guess see.
Now that's the next step, is that for the Marshall Islands to take on Greenland.
That I speak to their technical director, Saur and I speak to him quite a lot and he's a really good guy, very similar to that story to ours, but they are just a little bit more advanced than us and a little bit further down that line. But yeah, they're coming to London in October.
So I did express some interest like that I will play you.
But the downside I realized is it doesn't give us a lot of time to raise the money to do it, So I don't think it will happen, but yeah, we'll make it happen at some point, I'm sure.
Yeah, the friendlies of the Marshall Islands in Greenland. So if you look back to day number one, when you dove into this project, when you and Justin and you all dove into this to sit there and get to where it is now, and I know a lot of folks will sit there and say, well, let's the next number of years. But at the same time, I'm sure it feels just like the other day when.
You start, Oh it really does?
I mean, is what runs through your mind about everything about where the entire soccer community has embraced the story and want to see you grow and want to see the Marshall Islands represented. What's it been like from day one to now to get to this next stage, in this next event coming up and on.
I think for us it's been trying to maintain a bit of level headedness and trying to make sure that we don't one way, don't get carried away with ourselves.
We also people don't get carried away with expectations, right.
Because the common theme is that people wanted to see the eleven to eleven games since day one, and we realized quite quickly that wasn't going to happen because obviously, you know, we were starting out from fresh from scratch, so we needed to make sure it was sustainable. We needed kids playing, we needed adults playing. We needed to actually but this summer, for example, half the squad's not going to be living in the Marshall Islands. Half of
it are Marshall people that live in different places. But we wouldn't have had that opportunity to do that in the early days. But yeah, it's just making sure that people stayed relevant or sorry, we stayed relevant to what people wanted to see. We've tried to make sure that we had good achievements and things we ticked off along the way foot sale last year being like a stepping stone with the international fixtures last summer.
But this is now where people.
Have been building towards and without naming names as a regional nation, which is very similar next door to the Marshal Islands, who've tried doing something similar and haven't got anything close to what we've managed to do, which is testaments what we've been doing, but also in terms of a kickstar, so I think they raised like six hundred pounds, whereas obviously we've managed to hit twenty thousand in two months and I think.
That's just down.
So we've kept the interest flowing, but we've also kept that appeal of the potential of what we've got coming up, and we've got massive aims for what we want to do after this. So this is now just becoming part of a stepping stone and we want to make it's a good one for us.
Lloyd Auer's technical director of the Marshall Island Soccer Federation, batt and lead off here this morning because he's fighting allergies and I know that that when when you duck your camera out, I know that's when you're fighting.
To dial it back in.
It's like, Okay, he's gonna ask a question and gonna turn my camera off and I got to fix something and then I'll come right back.
I know exactly that feeling cool.
When was the last time you were on the island and helping out on foot sal and everything.
February? So yeah, a couple of moments go down.
So what was what was it like back on the island.
Last time you were there with all of the footstal and getting everybody acclimated to all of that.
What was your last trip like, Yeah.
It was really good.
To be honest, it was different because the first time I went out it was a case of trying to uh just work out what was going to happen, what was the layer of the land. The second time was more around the tournament of Footsaluth tournament. The third time was more around coach education, but also see another islands. So Madro good because it allowed us to see the same people we keep seeing, but also how they're developing.
But then we had the chance to go to Quaduline, obviously the home of the US military base, but uniting Quaduline the under the Soccer Federation banner and in e By as well is an interesting place. There we goes tactical. The EVA is an interesting place in the sense of it's one of the most poverty stricken places in the world. It's the sixth largest or sorry sick, most condensed population.
In the world.
You've got around twenty thousand people living in like three square miles.
Wow, And it was eye opening because there is just nothing it.
Poverty is probably is Key, you're king, and it's crazy to think that because the twenty minute boat right away, you've got Quadline, which has everything you have. An hour away by flight you've got Majuro, which is obviously in between the two. So it's yeah, it was eye opening in that sense, but the good thing for us was seeing how we could help there. We've got sessions happening there now, so yeah, it's a different trip in the sense of it was more around uniting different areas rather
than just the technical side. But on the technical side we realized people play a little good. Quadleene played against majurow footsal and outdoor and that's where we've now managed to use a bit of a recruitment strategy for this summer's.
Games as well.
What's it been like for you and for everyone attached to the project to try and unite each and every island in the chain that you've been touching with. What's it been like to try that to have that unifier it for.
In terms of having Quadleene on board.
Yeah, Qua you know e by Quadleen Madiro.
Well, because Quadlene has always had some form of soccer going on, They've had a soccer season for I don't even know how long in terms of a two month season, but it's it's very very very well organized, very well structured. But once soccer season has done, it moves onto the next sport, the next sport, the next sport.
It just goes around.
But we also realize, because that's happening, there will be players that have either playing at a decent level because it's competitive, but also they've probably come into Quajaline from somewhere else. They probably have a soccer background, and there are a lot of people that live there that have been there for years. Kids have grown up on Ireland. So for example, this summer we've got players from Quadline who have been on Quajalen or in the marsh Islands
in general for twenty years. But have also got players that are young but we're born in the Marshall Islands and have grown up in the marsh Islands and are living on Quadaline. And yeah, it allows us to open up that player, Paul, but it also allows us to do more things and more opportunities for the guys from mager Roys go and play there and vice versa.
What about the idea of unifying all of these different communities in socioeconomic backgrounds where you go from poverty, you know, you go from poverty to an island that's got pretty much everything to the one that's in the middle.
As you're talking about, what's it like.
To unite these three groups together through the sport of football.
Yeah, I think that's always been a game our aim as well in this game, because we've always said that our aim is to unite communities regardless of where they are.
For Marshal's people around around the world.
We had players from Masro who hadn't left Maduro before, and one of them was saying to me like, oh, this is the best weekend of my life. And you're thinking you've only gone to Quajli and it's but it is like night and day and then so seeing the opportunities we're given through the sport is unbelievable. But hopefully that's something that we can just build on in the
future as well. But like this summer, for example, we've got yeah, players from quaj Leine, players from Madro, players from the US or a mainland US based We've also got a couple of Marshal Lease players that are Marsha Lea's but live in Germany, and so the difference then is even broader because it's you know, even for the guys that are US based compared to the European based, they've still grown up in a different way, different style
of playing the game, and cultural beliefs, whatever it may be. It's going to be interesting to unite those different backgrounds and cultures anyway as one group.
What's it like to get notifications? How does that happen? It's like, yes, I live in Germany and I'm of Marshall's descent. How does that work? How does that happen?
So prior to the US links to the Marshall Islands, it was like a German occupation.
A lot of Marshalles have ended up in Germany over the years.
Over the years, and then one guy reached out to us saying on Instagram, I think saying look I'm marsh Lee's I play soccer or a football?
Is that I think?
And it was like, right, okay, But we get a lot of messages from people saying I want to play for the marshal Lians, but they're not Marshalle's.
But this guy was adamant. I was like, look, if you can prove you are marshal Le's. We got brilliant, So he did.
He went away, he came back with birth certificates his grandparents, and right, okay, fair enough, but he's only seventeen, but he plays in the German fourth Division. And then from him he found another guy that is also seventeen, also has Marshley's grandparents, who also plays in the German fourth Division.
So like, okay, fair enough. So and then there was another one.
Who is in Serbia who is marsh Lee's but can't play this summer, will be available for future games after that. But yeah, it's unbelievable how these different people just keep popping up from different places.
All right, so what's next on the board to get ready for August in Arkansas?
What can folks do? How can they help out?
Just because you've hit the marker and the kickstarter project doesn't mean that they should stop.
No, no, no, So we've got twelve eleven days left I think now with the Kickstarter, So if that can keep rising, brilliant because it just allows us to do more. But yeah, the next thing is if people are listening from companies who might want a media promotion in terms of worldwide media social media, the branding opportunity, just community relations.
Doing something good for the community, then get in touch because we've got loads of different sponsorship packages ranging from I think it ranges from two thousand dollars to sixty thousand dollars, so it's endless opportunities to get involved.
As always, my friend, it's great to see you. I know that we're both fighting. I know we're both fighting allergies.
And that's but appreciate it.
You know that you've got the keys to the kingdom. You can come in anytime.
I know.
I know that we have our own WhatsApp group, so I know that if there's anything, just reach out. And it's great to see my friend. Fantastic that you made the marker on the kickstarter. I know that it's just the beginning of everything and looking forward to seeing you in August and Arkansas.
My friend, Thanks for dropping back.
Thank you for having us. Appreciate it.