Fiji Madness : By Bruce Holloway
It was an excursion which was
ultimately unsuccessful, but one which,
nevertheless, was memorable for a
number of bizarre occurences.
These included match commissioner
Johnny Tinsley Lulu of Vanuatu - an
Oceania vice president - resigning
midway through the tournament, Central
striker Paul Uriovic being forced to go into hiding before his
team's semifinal,
administrators
outrageously seeking to
have a match replayed on
the basis of later viewing
amateur footage of a
disallowed goal, and local
spectators pondering
whether matches had
been "fixed".
Welcome to Oceania,
the wild wild west of world
football.
Australian and New Zealand
concerns arose before the tournament
even kicked off, when it became
apparent the teams from Fiji, the
Solomon Islands and Vanuatu were
regional or district selections, rather than
club sides which were legislated for in
the rules.
Nadi (a regional team) had Nicole
Raoma and Stewart Bola shipped in from Auckland. The first Central learned
of this was when they arrived in Nadi.
Who knows, had Central chosen to field,
say, an Auckland squad, it might have
been taking them off to Brazil.
Not that Central is complaining.
Indeed, chairman Ivan Vuksich went
out of his way to stress his club had no
problems with the tournament, or its
organisation, though was "disappointed"
Uriovic found it necessary to change
hotels for his personal safety.
However Sitter! readers may have a lower threshold of
indignancy or
amazement.
That Uriovic -
should be forced to go
Into hiding at a hotel
distinct from the one he
was booked into at a
Fifa-sanctoned
tournament, before his
team's semifinal,
because of threats against him from an
opposing team camp, beggars belief.
Imagine the uproar if David Beckham
copped the same treatment in Brazil.
It's been extraordinarily difficult to get
independent confirmation of many of
these episodes. Few of those present
have been prepared to go on the record.
Attending referee Derek Rugg said
he was prohibited from making any
comment whatsoever on any aspect of
the tournament.
Vuksich said Central had sent a
report on thetoumarnentto Oceania, but
preferred its contents to remain
confidential.
However Oceania secretary
Josephine King told Sitter! the
confederation had not received any
reports from any clubs or national bodies
and had heard nothing from tournament
observers (such as Ken Dugdale).
She was however expecting a
tournament debrief from Fijian FA
president Dr Sahu Khan at the
executive's January 15 meeting, but said
she had been unaware of any problems
at the tournament.
When Sitter! challenged her on this,
reminding her she had been reported in
a Herald article on October 6 as saying it
was 'very bad" that
the police had to be
involved at the
tournament over the
Uriovic incident, and
'we are aware there
were serious
problems" King said
she had been misquoted (though it speaks volumes
that there has been no published
retraction in the Herald).
King said it had been Uriovic's choice
to move to the Sheraton and it had
nothing to do with the tournament.
Indeed, she said the only hint of any
tournament problems she'd come across
was when she had an internet posting
from a travelling Central fan brought to
her attention.
The author of that posting did not
want to comment further on the
tournament, and asked that his name not
be used either.
He's concerned that some other New Zealand team will have to go back to one
of the islands, perhaps even Vanuatu, for
the next competition, while Central could
end up feeling the backlash, with
accusations of being sore losers.
However because the internet
posting is already in the public domain,
we'll reprint what has been said, picking
up the thread with the match between
Central and Tafea FC (Vanuatu).
The real action started when we
played Vanuatu, with 20 mins to go and
2-0 ahead we had Paul Uriovic sent off,
when, with the ball out of play, he was
kicked from behind and elbowed in the
face. Unfortunately he retaliated and
both were sent packing by the Tahitian
ref.
At this point the Vanuatu player wanted
to carry things on and
refused to go to the
dressing room, instead
trying to get a bit more
of Uriovic. The bench
then tried to do the
same as Uriovic was
raced off to the
dressing room and guarded by two policemen.
The game fumed into a nightmare
as the Vanuatu players went over the
top in nearly every tackle and the Central
players were really in danger of serious
harm. This resulted in another player
being sent off, but really, it could have
been four.
Anyway they got back on level terms
and scored what looked like the winner...
The goal was disallowed however, as
keeper Ross Nicholson had been
elbowed in the face going for the high
ball and was lying prone on the ground.
All hell broke loose as Mr Lulu went to
the touchline and demanded that the ref get our medical staff off the field.
The Vanuatu players started to walk
off the field and were trying to get at our
bench. Our meagre support (which was
mainly women and kids) in the stand
was threatened by their supporters who
were doing a sort of war dance in their
faces.
The dressing room door started to
be kicked and thumped ("shit we might
have to use this wooden idol we
received from them before the game to
defend ourselves")
To cut a long story short, we hung
on for the draw and after waiting on the
field for 20 mins, the players were ushered
to the dressing room
where we packed
everything quickly
and were police
escorted out of the
stadium (as was the
ref)...
The semi saw us
with much of our
starting line-up
injured and playing
on the rock hard and
bumpy Prince
Charles Park in
Nadi...
Our new friends from Vanuatu arrived and were soon
trying to whip the crowd into shape
calling us 'Kiwi cheats', etc. To their
credit, most of the local crowd didn 't get
into it that way, though some did.
We had a few chances to win the
game, but well done to Nadi. Another
police escort out and back to the hotel
where we waited for Paul Uriovic to
return from his 'secure 'hiding place (he
was relocated to another hotel for the
afternoon following some advice from the security people)... This is not an
excuse for our exit, but simply a small
taster of some of our problems.
King said no weighting could be put
on such postings because they were
"unofficial".
Asked if she was concerned at police
intervention on top of unsavoury matters,
King said: "No one has told me the police
were there, though I've heard they were
there. But I haven't got anything in writing
saying the police were there... I am not
familiar with the whole thing because
nobody has given me from any of the
clubs as report on what exactly
happened."
Meanwhile Lulu, initially upset when he
learned some
counfries had sent a
fax from Fiji to the
OFC headquarters in
Auckland seeking
clarification of the
club status rule,
resigned as match
commissioner when
his bid to have the
Vanuatu game
replayed was turned
down by OFC on
September 23.
At the tournament meeting that day the Vanuatu team
asked to show a video of the incident
with Ross Nicholson.
Despite Fifa statutes quite clearly
staling the referee's decision is final, the
meeting resolved to view an amateur
video of match incidents. Teams were
asked if they thought it was a goal. The
Tahitians apparently agreed it was a
good goal and the game should be
replayed.
However, even in Oceania soccer, the rule of law has to apply. It couldn't
be done.
Lulu announced his resignation,
saying it was impossible for him to carry
on, though his actions need to be put in
the context of Island politics.
The Minister of Sport from Vanuatu
was at the game with Lulu - a former
public service head - and soccer there
relies heavily on government backing.
Unquestionably Lulu felt the need to
make a stand.
King said this was the first time
Oceania had a match commissioner
resign midway through a tournament, did
not expect a repeat, and would not be
taking action against Lulu. "He said he
resigned because they weren't accepting
him," she said. "I don't know, something
went wrong."
Minutes of the first technical meeting
at the tournament show Tahiti was
actually the first to protest about the
regional teams.
But acting chairman Dr Khan
reminded the Australian and New
Zealand clubs their national bodies had
agreed to this demand.
Because this was news to Melbourne
and Central-neither of whom had been
briefed by their national association -
they taxed Oceania headquarters in
Auckland and had this confirmed.
Dr Khan defended the two players
who came from Auckland on loan by
saying that they could play, as they would
finish the season with Nadi, staying for a
tournament in October then returning to
NZ.
But that would not appear to
constitute a "league" situation, as the
rules state is required to validate a loan
arrangement.
Vuksich said he was initially amazed
that New Zealand Soccer would agree to such a regional proposal without
consulting, or even informing Central
United.
But in retrospect he was loathe to
criticise anyone.
"With a club side like ours, you can
have 13-14 good players, then the quality
drops off," he said. With a regional side
you can be stacked with quality
throughout, so it makes a difference.
"But after an event it is never easy to
make excuses -just look at John Hart.
Besides we understand that it has been
resloved there will be no regional sides
in future."
There were other strange incidents
at the tournament.
Working out the possible
permutations in the (suitably bizarre)
three-group competition, it was clear that
Tahiti needed to score more than 11
goals against Samoa to make the semis.
If they scored 14 or more they would
face South Melbourne. If it was less, then
they would play Central.
Here Fijian Sitter! subscriber Jimmy
Shah takes up the story: "When the score
reached 12 we saw their coach urging
them to score two more. They scored
again and he was holding up one finger
and pointing up-field. He evidently
wanted to play South Melbourne.
"This may seem strange to New
Zealanders or even Australians, when
logic suggests Central would be the
better option to play. But it's more than
likely Central were being set up to lose
the Vanuatu game.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the French-
speaking Vanuatu and Tahiti had planned
to have a team in each semi-final, but
the (Tahitian) ref for the central match
chickened out at the end after being one-
sided throughout.
"Ask yourself who selected the Tahitian ref and who stood him down
from the tournament after the game.
"We've seen similar things happen to
Fijian sides with the French speaking
countries in other tournaments."
But Vuksich dismissed such talk. "If
anything, the fact that the referee
disallowed what would have been the
winning goal for Vanuatu would point to
the opposite being the case."
Central striker Mark Eirick disagreed.
On the Tahitian ref, he said: "I don't
know whether he was paid for it or not,
but he is certainly the most biased ref
I've ever come across. He didn't want us to win, put it that way.
You can't tell me a team
can get 15 free kicks in a
row, just outside the
penalty box, with our
defenders being crucified
for just jumping up in the
air and heading the ball.
Eirick described the
tournament as
"unorganised",
"embarrassing" and an
"absolute abortion".
"I understand that our
club probably doesn't want to stir the pot too much, but I would never
go back as a player to Fiji, just on
account of their grounds," he said.
"Everything said about the Uriovic
situation is perfectly true. The game got
really nasty and security was not
sufficient. Their bench was holding flags
as spears and it was pretty scary for
those who were experiencing their first
taste of international soccer.
"But it was mainly that one game that
was the big concern. When we played
the Fijians, they were fine, despite the
Vanuatuans trying to stir things up."
Meanwhile South Melbourne's concerns were largely confined to on-
field matters, judging from this excerpt
from the club programme, In Blue and
White (October 10), by co-editor Chris
Touliatos:
"This so-called football team from
Tahiti decided to start kicking the man
and not the ball and I do not think I've
ever seen a more disgraceful display
from a soccer team. Blatsis had to go
off with a blood nose, a cheap shot from
a Tahitian. Trimmers got the third goal
after a clever cut back from Michael
Curcija, that sparked more angry scenes
from the Venus team. Ange (Postecoglou) cleared
the bench with five
minutes to go, our players
did extremely welt to keep
their cool under difficult
circumstances.'
Vliksich was hopeful
future tournaments could
be played on a home and
away basis, which he
thought would make for a
smoother competition.
But King was
sceptical: "That would be
a wonderful idea, but I think the financial implications would
prevent it."
Vuksich said Central spent $50,000
contesting the qualifiers, and as it was
now gearing up for another crack, did
not want to cause unnecessary ructions.
"I have a lot of respect for Oceania,
having seen what Charlie (Dempsey) has
to cope with," he said. "You are dealing
with a wide range of different cultures
who have all got their own interests and
it is not easy. The Fijian Indians put in a
lot of hard work to make this tournament
work and I certainly don'twantio criticise
Oceania or Fifa. The club championship is an absolute blessing."
The question has been asked
whether we should be highlighting the
shortcomings of the game in our own
backyard at a time when soccer is on a
high.
Well, our view is that Oceania has
battled for decades to be treated on an
equal basis with other Fifa
confederations.
If that is to happen, it is only fair that
Oceania's own activities and
tournaments should meet the standards
which would be expected elsewhere in
the world.
Similarly, clubs which seek to play at
the highest level should be subjected to the same level of scrutiny that would be
expected in footballing hotbeds.
Running world football is a vast
business, of which Oceania is Fifa's
representative. We need much more
transparency in its operations. The long-
term future of the code here is not served
by painting everything pink when,
patently, it is not.
Readers can make up there own
minds on whether all is well in Oceania,
or whether the inaugural World Club
Champs qualifiers in Fiji set acceptable
standards.
The winner of next winter's national
league will represent New Zealand in the
2001 qualifiers.
