Fatima Rama (born 28 January 1981) is a Papua New Guinean

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and rugby player. She played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

in football for the

Papua New Guinea women's national football team The Papua New Guinea women's national football team is controlled by the Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA). Its nickname is the ''Lakatois'', which is a Motuan sailing vessel. Their home ground is the Sir Hubert Murray Stadi ...

. She has also represented PNG in rugby sevens and fifteens.

Career

Rama was a senior women's national team representative in football (soccer) before she switched codes to become a rugby union player.

2018

Rama competed at the

Oceania Rugby Women's Championship Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship is an international women's rugby union competition contested by women's national teams from Oceania. The current Champions is Fiji who claimed their third Oceania title at the Championship in New Zealand. H ...

, she scored a try against

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

in the tournament's opening match, however, her side lost 45–56.

2019–21

At the

2019 Sydney Women's Sevens The 2019 Sydney Women's Sevens was the third tournament within the 2018–19 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series and the third edition of the Australian Women's Sevens. It was held over the weekend of 1–3 February 2019 at Spotless Stadium in Sydne ...

, she scored a stunning try in the first half against the

Black Ferns sevens The New Zealand women's national rugby sevens team represents New Zealand in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Summer Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games. The team has participated in all rounds of the World Rugby Wom ...

despite her team's 38–5 loss. In April 2019, she was named in the sevens squad to compete at the

Hong Kong Women's Sevens The Hong Kong Women's Sevens held the first women's international rugby sevens tournament in 1997, and has since become an annual event. The 2020 edition marked the start of a new era for the Hong Kong Women's Sevens. For the first time, the tou ...

to qualify as a core team for the

2019–20 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series The 2019–20 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series was the eighth edition of the global circuit for women's national rugby sevens teams, organised by World Rugby. Only five of the originally scheduled eight tournaments were completed before the ...

. Rama represented

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

in sevens at the

2019 Pacific Games The 2019 Pacific Games was the sixteenth edition of the Pacific Games. The Games were held in Apia, Samoa, returning there for the first time since 2007. It was the third time overall that the Pacific Games were held in Samoa. The event was init ...

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...

. In 2021, due to her success in rugby union, the Satellite 7s executives decided to introduce the women's competition in hopes of finding more female players like her.

2023

Rama was the oldest player, at age 41, to take the field at the

2023 New Zealand Women's Sevens 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

in January. She also competed at the 2023 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in April; she scored a try for PNG against

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

in their ninth-place semi-final, her side lost 7–44. Rama was named in PNG's fifteens squad for the

2023 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship The 2023 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship was the fifth edition of the Oceania Rugby Women's Championship. The competition was held at Bond University in Gold Coast, Queensland between 26 May and 4 June. The 2023 competition saw teams compete for ...

Gold Coast, Queensland The Gold Coast is a coastal city in the state of Queensland, Australia, approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital Brisbane. With a population over 600,000, the Gold Coast is the sixth-largest city in Australia, the nati ...

. She started in the opening game of the tournament against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

, her side were scoreless in their 77–0 loss.

References

1981 births Living people Women's association football forwards Papua New Guinean women's soccer players Papua New Guinea women's international soccer players Papua New Guinean female rugby union players Papua New Guinea international women's rugby sevens players Place of birth missing (living people) Pacific Games bronze medalists for Papua New Guinea Pacific Games medalists in rugby sevens Pacific Games silver medalists for Papua New Guinea {{PapuaNewGuinea-women-footy-bio-stub