‘UP POHNPEI’ by Paul Watson

“Up Pohnpei” is the fictionalised true story of the struggle of two Englishmen to become international coaches. Paul Watson excellently paints a vivid picture of his great adventure to the tiny Micronesian island of Pohnpei.

Pohnpei has a large toad infestation, one of the wettest climates in the world, no funding what so ever and have never won an international football match. With support from his girlfriend Lizzie, Paul Watson and his best friend Matt Conrad travel many ours of unorganised flights to the Pacific island of Pohnpei.

When they arrive, things were much worse than anything they imagined. A large percentage of Pohnpeians are overweight and are obsessed with a notorious mind altering drug called betel nut. The two Englishmen have to bring together a group of ragtag locals with no experience with football, to become the new and improved Pohnpei National Team. Will Matt and Paul create the first Pohnpei team to win a match, or will there journey be a complete waste of time?

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys football or shows an interest in obscure nations. I believe that this book is suitable to people my own age or even older. One problem is that it takes some time to get into and some of the characters descriptions are pretty vague but once you’re in there’s no going back. I really enjoyed this book because it creates a great image of the native island and deeply describes the journey of two men with a dream to change the face of football.

Written by Joseph Ferry.