He was accompanied by a national football league championship and a cup winner’s medal after coaching the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Royals to glory in the inaugural National Solrais Women’s football league.
Snr Sgt Crawford was one of a small team deployed to Honiara as part of the New Zealand regional assistance programme in late 2019.
Only months into his deployment, Covid-19 struck.
Having coached football previously, the opportunity to coach the team became an unexpected, but welcome, distraction from the fallout from the virus.
“The team was already in its early stages when I went along to a fundraising sausage sizzle and got speaking with the team manager, who soon after had to stop coaching in order to deal with Covid-19 in the country,” Snr Sgt Crawford said.
“Before I knew it, I was coaching the team every day to establish strategy, skills, game management and elements of football awareness with the group.”
The success of the team was a huge source of pride for Snr Sgt Crawford, but more so, it was the opportunity to contribute to the community in a significant way that he found the most rewarding.
“Being part of a project, and building community and police leadership in young women within a post-conflict society aligns with a United Nations resolution. I really feel that this league and coaching in this team provided that.”
“There were so many positives to coaching the team, and all it cost was some of my time. Sure, it’s easy to clock off after your shift, but I really don’t think that’s in the spirit of a long-term overseas deployment.
‘‘If you’re there for two years, it’s important to connect, and through coaching this team I was able to do that in a really rewarding way.”
Snr Sgt Crawford’s deployment ended in July 2021 and he has returned to Dunedin to work in the District Command Centre.
On his return to Dunedin, and to family and friends, he found it different from the place he had left in 2019.
‘‘Normal isn’t really normal anymore, because of Covid-19. Things look and feel quite different. Other than the weather, of course,’’ he said.
Snr Sgt Crawford still maintained contact with the team over Facetime, reiterating a list of on-field guidelines for the players, which they fondly referred to as Marko’s Ten Commandments.
“They are such a talented group of players. Once Covid-19 is out of the way, I’d love to see some of the girls playing in New Zealand and Australian competitions, making the move to playing professionally.
‘‘The standard of some of the players is that good.”
