GSS' WOMEN'S TEAM MAKE HISTORY IN GREENLAND

It's been a long, long time since one of Greenland's oldest football clubs, GSS, has won a senior national championship, but they now have, at long last, something to celebrate. The club, founded in 1944, reached its first senior national final since the men's team took the title for the fifth and last time in 1976. This time, though, it was the women's team who finished top of the pile this time around, and in doing so, made history; it was the club's first national women's title.

GSS' previous best performance at a national championship came in 2003, when they finished in third place; since then, both they and the men's team have long lived in the shadow of B-67, NÛK, and, more recently, IT-79, but this is hardly surprising as the club has tended to concentrate on the indoor game in recent years. The majority of the GSS team played for B-67 in last year's championship due to registration problems with their own club, and helped their cross-town rivals finish as runners-up.

Six other teams took part in the tournament, which was held in Qeqertarsuaq: hosts Disko 1976, their local rivals G-44, GSS' cross-town rivals and 2017 champions NÛK, UB-83 (Upernavik), UB-68 (Uummannaq), Aqisseq (Kangaatsiaq) and Nagdlúnguak-48 (Ilulissat), who, like GSS, have been dominated by a team from across town, in this case I-69 - at least as women's football is concerned.

 

 The eventual 2018 champions GSS line pose before one of their group games

NÛK and I-69 have had a monopoly on the women's national championship since 1995; since then, no other team has won the title, and only once since 1997 has either of the teams finished outside the top three. To the surprise of many, I-69 declined to enter the competition this year; this was due to some organisational issues which led to a lack of interest in training from many of the players, so the club decided to regroup in order to field a stronger team next year.

NÛK and I-69 have had a monopoly on the women's national championship since 1995; since then, no other team has won the title, and only once since 1997 has either of the teams finished outside the top three. To the surprise of many, I-69 declined to enter the competition this year; this was due to some organisational issues which led to a lack of interest in training from many of the players, so the club decided to regroup in order to field a stronger team next year.

Due to I-69's non-participation, the way was open for other clubs to challenge NÛK for the title, and the most obvious challengers from Group A were UB-68, runners-up for the sixth time in 2016 and the only team in the group who had never won the championship. They obliterated their group opposition, scoring forty goals and conceding just one, reaching double figures in two matches. Olina Kristensen scored four of their goals against UB-83, whilst team-mates Karoline Malakiassen and Evita Grønvold each grabbed hat-tricks; Kristensen then hit seven goals against Nagdlúnguak-48. Hosts Disko 1976 finished second on goal difference, due in no small part to their being the only team not to lose by double figures against UB-68.

 2017 Greenlandic national women's championship winners - and this year's runners-up - NÛK

(Photo courtesy of KAK)

There were only three matches in Group B, and the closest of the three was the opening match between NÛK and GSS, which ended with GSS, perhaps surprisingly, winning by six goals to four with Najaaja Anja Lyberth contributing three of the goals. NÛK then won their next match against Aqisseq 8:2 to put them into the semi-finals, before GSS annihilated Aqisseq, thrashing them 27:1 to finish top of the group. Asii Kleist Berthelsen scored thirteen goals against the team representing the small village of Kangaatsiaq, whilst Lyberth added another six.

NÛK cruised past UB-68 in the semi-finals with the minumum of fuss, winning 4:1, the goals being shared between Pilunnguaq Chemnitz and Aili Pedersen. In the other semi-final, GSS' 14-year-old goal-machine Kleist Berthelsen added another nine goals to her personal tally as her team scored nineteen goals without reply against Disko 1976.

Before the NÛK and GSS met in the final, the two play-offs for the minor placings were played and, true to form, they were packed with goals. Nagdlúnguak-48 finished bottom of Group A, and as only seven teams took part in the tournament, they were eliminated as they came last in the four-team group.

Aqisseq faced UB-83 in the fifth-place play-off, and were once again on the end of a double-figure defeat, this time at the hands of UB-83 as they went down 13:1. The third-place play-off was between UB-68 and Disko 1976, and it was to be another chastening defeat for the hosts. UB-68 had already scored forty-one goals; they scored another sixteen in this game alone to round off their tournament in style, finishing in third place. Malakiassen scored seven of them, whilst Grønvold weighed in with four.

 2018 Greenlandic women's championship winners GSS (with the obligatory iceberg in the far background) celebrate their maiden national title in Qeqertarsuaq

(Photo courtesy of KAK)

The final, meanwhile, was one-way traffic, and Kleist Berthelsen weighed in with a hat-trick as GSS crushed reigning champions NÛK 6:1; Arnarissoq Møller scored twice as GSS moved up the gears - no doubt helped by the sending-off of NÛK's Pilannguaq Chemnitz for a second yellow card, the only expulsion of the tournament - winning their first-ever national women's championship in rampant fashion after coming from nowhere. They may well have to defend their title next year without Kleist Berthelsen, however, as the youngster has moved to Danish champions Fortuna Hjørring to play for their under-16 side. 

Berthelsen, described as one of four key players for the club by manager Peter Hardenberg Davidsen - who mentioned that he 14-year-old has played for GSS' boys under-11, under-13 and under-15 teams - was cited as someone with a very bright future in the game by team-mate Vivi Fleischer, who herself bravely took part in every game in the competition despite suffering from a debilatating illness. Fleischer added that there was a "big difference between the teams. For example, we won 27:1 against a team from northern Greenland [Aqisseq] and won the final against NÛK with 6:1."

 GSS celebrate one of their six goals against NÛK in this year's final

(Photo courtesy of Peter Hardenberg Davidsen/GSS)

"So unfortunately there was no big challenge for us this year," she added. "The reason for that is, in Greenland, women's football doesn't get much attention, so talented players often lose interest. But, GSS as a team doesn't use any excuse to skip practice. If we don't have any teams to play against, we just play against boys. I think that helped us a lot to get in shape and get our play together. I am very proud of my team-mates and even though the standard of football in Greenland isn't high, we have a lot of young, good, players with bright futures in the football world."

Fellow GSS player Pilunnguaq Broberg - who scored in every game except the final - echoed Vivi Fleischer's comments, but offered some interesting ones of her own. She was also critical of the current football set-up in Greenland when she said that "GSS is a team that has a strong unity. One reason [for this] is that the team is training continuously. When the championship started, it became apparent that we trained more than the other teams. This may be due, for example, to fewer females [playing football] in the past couple of years, due to lack of exercise and also less focus on women's football from the association [KAK]. The consequence of this is that there is no national women's coach any more."

GSS manager Hardenberg Davidsen also referred to his team's being the fittest in the competition, and put this down to something else. "Most of the GSS team also plays for the handball team and the national handball team. Therefore, they are in very good shape and have [won the Greenland handball championship] nine times in a row; they wanted another challenge in the world of sport, chose football and became Greenland's champions in 2018." They rose to the challenge wonderfully well, and, although they have lost Asii Kleist Berthelsen, they will surely be amongst the front-runners next season.



GROUP A (Disko 1976, Nagdlúnguak-48, UB-83, UB-68)

31/07/18 Disko 1976 4:0 Nagdlúnguak-48 (Tobiassen 2, Mólgaard, Svendsen)
31/07/18 UB-83 1:14 UB-68 (Vetterlain; Kristensen 4, Grønvold 3, Karoline Malakiassen 3, Kaspersen 2, Kaaka Nielsen Qvist 2)
01/08/18 Disko 1976 2:2 UB-83 (Tobiassen, Lyberth; Lerch, Maren Karlsen)
01/08/18 Nagdlúnguak-48 0:19 UB-68 (Kristensen 7, Grønvold 3, Kaspersen 2, Lukassen 2, Karoline Malakiassen 2, Fritza Løvstrøm, Tobiassen, Svane OG)
02/08/18 Disko 1976 0:7 UB-68 (Grønvold 3, Karoline Malakiassen, Kristensen, Tobiassen, Lukassen)
02/08/18 Nagdlúnguak-48 2:10 UB-83 (Arnatsiaq Berthelsen, Lund Mathæussen; Maren Karlsen 3, Lerch 2, Vetterlain 2, Villadsen, Nielsen, Lund Mathæussen OG)

TEAM	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	PTS	GD
UB-68	3	2	1	0	40	1	9	39
DISKO 1976	3	1	1	1	6	9	4	-3
UB-83	3	1	1	1	13	18	4	-13
Nagdlúnguak-48	3	0	0	3	2	33	0	-31

GROUP B (NÛK, GSS, Aqisseq)

31/07/08 NÛK 4:6 GSS (Chemnitz 2, Lange, Lind; Lyberth 3, Asii Kleist Berthelsen 2, Pillunguaq Broberg)
01/08/18 NÛK 8:2 Aqisseq (Chemnitz 3, Pedersen 3, Amondsen, Lange; Brandt, Rosannguaq Jeremiassen)
02/08/18 GSS 27:1 Aqisseq (Asii Kleist Berthelsen 13, Lyberth 6, Pillanguaq Broberg 2, Nuunu-Marie Lukassen 2, Vivi Fleischer, Nivi Fleischer Berthelsen, Arnarissoq Møller, Jutta Jeremiassen OG; Marina Brandt)

TEAM	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	PTS	GD
GSS	2	2	0	0	33	5	6	28
NÛK	3	1	1	1	12	8	3	4
Aqisseq	3	0	0	2	3	35	0	-32

SEMI-FINALS

03/08/18 UB-68 1:4 NÛK (Karoline Malakiassen; Chemnitz 2, Pedersen 2)
03/08/18 Disko 1976 0:19 GSS (Asii Kleist Berthelsen 9, Pillunguaq Broberg 2, Nivi Fleischer Berthelsen 2, Lyberth 2, Amarissoq Møller 2, Hedvig Broberg, Mette Munk Andersen)


FIFTH-PLACE PLAY-OFF

04/08/18 UB-83 13:1 Aqisseq (Lerch 3, Vetterlain 3, Louise Karlsen 2, Maren Karlsen, Akisooq Møldrup, Nielsen, Pedersen, Navarana Svendsen; Karen Brandt)


THIRD-PLACE PLAY-OFF

04/08/18 UB-68 16:0 Disko 1976 (Karoline Malakiassen 7, Kaaka Nielsen Qvist 4, Grønvold 2, Lukassen 2, Tobiassen)


FINAL

04/08/16 NÛK 1:6 GSS (Lange; Asii Kleist Berthelsen 3, Møller 2, Lyberth)


TOURNAMENT XI

Marie-Louise BERTHELSEN (UB-68); Salat MALAKIASSEN (UB-68), Laila BRANDT (NÛK), Mette MUNK ANDERSEN (GSS), Karo DAHL (NÛK), Evita GRØNVOLD (UB-68), Aili PEDERSEN (NÛK), Hedvig Broberg (GSS), Karen Louise VETTERLAIN (UB-83), Asii KLEIST BERTHELSEN (GSS), Najaaja Anja LYBERTH (GSS)



TOP SCORERS

Asii KLEIST BERTHELSEN (GSS) - 27
Karoline MALAKIASSEN (UB-68)- 14
Najaaja Anja LYBERTH (GSS) - 12
Olina KRISTENSEN (UB-68) 12
Evita GRØNVOLD (UB-68) - 11
Pilunnguaq CHEMNITZ (NÛK) - 7


PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT

Najaaja Anja LYBERTH (GSS)

MOST COMBATIVE PLAYER

Salaat MALAKIASSEN (UB-68)

MOST TECHNICAL PLAYER

Hedvig BROBERG (GSS)

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Lars Jørgen Petersen and Nike Berthelsen from the KAK (formerly the GBU) for their help, and for permission to use the photos in the above article; also many thanks to Marianne Thomsen and Arnâránguak Rohde for clarifying one or two issues, and last but by no means least to GSS trio Vivi Fleischer, Pilunnguaq Broberg and Peter Hardenberg Davidsen for their input. Other information was obtained via Sermitsiaq and KNR websites.