Gelle Hills United was a semi-professional

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 ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club founded in 2006, based in Central Province but playing their home games predominantly in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

. The club was one of the founding members of the

Papua New Guinea National Soccer League The KPHL National Soccer League, also known as the Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited National Soccer League for sponsorship reasons, is the men's top division of professional soccer in Papua New Guinea. It is a nationwide league formed in 2006 by ...

, finishing as runners-up in the opening two seasons of the competition. These remain their most successful seasons to date, having disappeared sometime after 2010.

History

Despite what their team logo suggests, Gelle Hills was founded in 2006 shortly before the inaugural Papua New Guinea National Soccer League season began. The club was one of five founding members, and they finished the regular season in third place in the league table. They progressed to the playoffs, where, on 18 November 2006, they were set to play

Morobe FC Morobe United FC, formerly known as Blue Kumuls (1970s–2005), Shorncliffe Blue Kumuls (2005), Tuguba Laitepo Blue Kumuls (2006), Morobe Kumuls FC (2007), Gigira Laitepo Morobe FC (2008–2014, exc. 2011–12 season), Gigira Laitepo Central Coas ...

in the semi-final. However, fading light stopped play at 0–0, and a replay was scheduled the following day. After surrendering a 3–0 lead, the match went to extra time, and the Hills pipped Morobe 6–5 to reach the very first Grand Final. Once there, they fell to

Hekari United Hekari United, formerly known as POM Souths, Souths United, PRK Souths United and Hekari Souths United, is a professional football club formed in 2006, based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The club holds the record for most titles in the Pa ...

, losing 2–0, but picking up a prize of K25,000 for coming second. They returned for the 2007–08 season and once again performed well, finishing second in the regular season table, behind champions Hekari. After a 3–0 victory over Rapatona in the playoff semi-final, the team once again faced Hekari United in the Grand Final, and were the bridesmaids again, losing 3–2 despite a brace from

Tau Winnie Tau (uppercase Τ, lowercase τ, or \boldsymbol\tau; el, ταυ ) is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless dental or alveolar plosive . In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 300. The name in English ...

. In September 2008 it was reported that the club had been thrown out of the 2008–09 season as the side had failed to meet the statutory requirements necessary to maintain their status in the division. However, chairman Wilfred Vali had indicated that he had successfully negotiated the financial backing of Rob Jones, part-owner of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n side

Brisbane Roar FC Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record ...

, and that, as part of the agreement, Hills would secure the services of three Australian players for the forthcoming season. Nevertheless, Gelle Hills did not compete in the 2008–09 season. They would, however, return for the 2009–10 season as one of nine teams. Despite a promising start, with three wins from their opening four matches, the side were unable to make an impact upon their return, and finished 7th in the table. On 7 July 2010, Papua New Guinean newspaper ''The National'' suggested that Gelle Hills might be 'exempted' from the upcoming season's competition. Indeed, on 30 October 2010, the 2010–11 season kicked off with Gelle Hills not one of the seven teams taking part.

Honours

National competitions

**Runners-up:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, 2007–08

References

{{Papua New Guinea National Soccer League Soccer clubs in Papua New Guinea Association football clubs established in 2006 2006 establishments in Papua New Guinea