Sport is an important part of Solomon Islands culture dating back to the early colonial period.

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

and horse racing are among the earliest organised sports in Solomon Islands. Sport has shaped the Solomon Islands national identity through events. Solomon Islands hosted the

2023 Pacific Games The 2023 Pacific Games, officially known as the XVII Pacific Games, will be a continental multi-sport event for Oceania countries and territories that is scheduled to be held in Honiara, Solomon Islands between 19 November and 2 December 2023. ...

in Honiara.

History

The

Solomon Islands national rugby union team The Solomon Islands national rugby union team represent Solomon Islands in the sport of rugby union. They played their first internationals as part of the 3rd South Pacific Games in Port Moresby, beginning with a 5–23 loss to host team Papua Ne ...

has been playing internationals since 1969. It took part in the Oceania qualifying tournament for the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cups, but failed to qualify on each occasion. On 14 June 2008, the Solomon Islands national futsal team, the Kurukuru, won the Oceania Futsal Championship in Fiji to qualify them for the

2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup The 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup was the sixth edition of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was the first tournament to use t ...

, which was held in Brazil from 30 September to 19 October 2008. Solomon Islands is the futsal defending champions in the Oceania region. In 2008 and 2009 the Kurukuru won the Oceania Futsal Championship in Fiji. In 2009 they defeated the host nation Fiji, 8–0, to claim the title.

Background

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

is played in Solomon Islands. National teams in association football and the related

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

and beach soccer have proved among the most successful in Oceania. The

Solomon Islands national football team The Solomon Islands national football team is the national football team of the Solomon Islands, administered by the Solomon Islands Football Federation. The Solomon Islands national football team was founded in 1978. They were officially recog ...

is part of the OFC confederation in FIFA.

Ranking

They are currently ranked 184th out of 209 teams in the FIFA World Rankings. The team became the first team to beat New Zealand in qualifying for a play-off spot against Australia for qualification to the World Cup 2006. They were defeated 7–0 in Australia and 2–1 at home. The Kurukuru currently hold the world record for the fastest ever goal scored in an official futsal match. It was set by Kurukuru captain Elliot Ragomo, who scored against New Caledonia three seconds into the game in July 2009. They also, however, hold the less enviable record for the worst defeat in the history of the

FIFA Futsal World Cup The FIFA Futsal World Cup is an international futsal competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. Since the first edition that took place in 1989 in the Netherland ...

, when in 2008 they were beaten by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

with two goals to thirty-one. The

Solomon Islands national beach soccer team The Solomon Islands national beach soccer team represents Solomon Islands in international beach soccer competitions and is controlled by S.I.F.F, the governing body for football in Solomon Islands. The team are known as the ''Bilikiki'', or ' ...

, the Bilikiki Boys, are statistically the most successful team in Oceania. They have won all three regional championships to date, thereby qualifying on each occasion for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. The Bilikiki Boys are ranked fourteenth in the world , higher than any other team from Oceania."Bilikiki ranked fourteenth in the world"
, ''Solomon Star'', 29 January 2010

References

External links

* {{Solomon Islands topics Sport in the Solomon Islands

History

Background

Ranking

See also

References

External links