Fijians ?rough deal? claims face inquiry

The Fiji Football Association is to investigate claims that Fijian players have been dealt with unfairly by referees while playing for Anderson Meats Wairarapa United in this season's Capital Soccer premier division competition.
The claims were made by Wairarapa United coach Phil Keinzley in an interview headlined Fijian Farce and published in the Wairarapa Times-Age last week.
In that article Keinzley openly expressed his frustrations at the way referees treated his team's Fijian quartet ? Sakeo Valevou, Pita Rabo, Lai Gataurua and Petero Dauniseka ? on both attack and defence.
"I'm not saying it was anything racist, but there is no doubt in my mind that the Fijians suffered at the hands of the referees," Keinzley said. "Too often they were kicked to hell by opposing defenders, and nothing done about it??it's hard not to get cynical when that sort of thing is happening in game after game".
Keinzley told the Times-Age that many of the fouls came when one of the Fijians had used their flair and attacking skills to open up opposition defences and had got themselves into a position where goals were very probably going to be scored..
He said referees seemed to forever take the view that if the Fijians went to ground after being challenged for the ball they were guilty of diving. In fact, they were often penalised for that offence.
"The tackler could hack away at them as much as he liked and wouldn't even be booked?that doesn't sit well with me," he said.
Keinzley also opined that the Fijians were unfairly signalled out in defensive play as well.
"They'd only have to give someone a decent stare and the yellow card was out of the pocket, it was like the referees had gone out with preconceived ideas if what they would do and punished them whether they were guilty of anything bad or not," he said.
Fiji Football Association boss Dr Mohammed Samsud-Dean Sahu Khan told the Fiji Times yesterday that while he personally was yet to read the Wairarapa Times-Age report, the FFA would not take the matter lightly in protecting their players. He intimated the national body would be looking into the claims made by Keinzley this week.
Keinzley himself has no qualms about what has been said, saying he had been "peeved off" for a good while over how the Fijians had virtually been refereed out of games, and now that he had retired as Wairarapa United coach he felt free to vent his frustrations.
His comments have not only picked up by the Fiji Times but also by a Fiji radio station and a Pacific radio station in Auckland.
"Obviously it's become a talking point in Fiji, but that certainly wasn't the idea, it was just a chance to get things off the chest," he said.
Keinzley said the Fijians had been subjected to so many bad calls it was not only frustrating to him but also embarrassing.
"It was pretty hard to explain to them what was happening," he said. "There were times when it was embarrassing to be a Kiwi!"
The good news for Wairarapa United though is that three of the Fijians, Valevou, Rabo and Gataurua, will be available for them again next year.
They are all in the process of taking up permanent residency in this country.