KEY POINTS:
New Zealand 3 Fiji 2
Police were called to Waitakere's Trusts Stadium when yesterday's under-20 World Cup qualifier threatened to get out of hand.
Solomon Islands referee Nelson Sogo seemed to let both teams get away with blue murder.
Players were elbowed, stamped on, had balls thrown at their faces and a punch was thrown, yet the referee took no serious action.
At the final whistle, a couple of Fijian players raced at their opponents and police had to break up a scuffle involving about 20 spectators on the sideline. They also escorted both teams and the officials from the field.
"It's a bad look for the game," Oceania event manager Seamus Martin said. "I asked for security before the end of the match because I was concerned about the officials. I was very glad to see them [the police] because we didn't want to see anything get out of hand and they did a fantastic job calming the situation."
Hector Zinck, one of the 3000-strong crowd, said abuse flew at the end of the match.
"There were some comments I thought were racist," he said. "Some spectators said we should go back to our little island and then there was a scuffle. If the cops weren't there, it could have been much worse."
New Zealand won 3-2 to replace Fiji at the top of the Oceania qualifying table with two rounds remaining.
But the match bore little resemblance to the "beautiful game" of which legendary Brazilian striker Pele spoke.
The match was likely to decide which team would journey to Canada for the under-20 World Cup in June and it needed a strong referee.
Sadly, in Sogo, it didn't get it, and the Oceania Confederation must take some of the blame for that.
New Zealand are now favourites, although they still have to get past Vanuatu and a tricky match against New Caledonia on Wednesday.
But the game will be remembered more for a host of spiteful incidents.
Incredibly, only one player was red-carded (for an elbow on Jeremy Brockie) and three yellows were brandished.
The referee was even subject to physical abuse himself, when he appeared to be shoved by Fiji captain Esava Naqeleca, for which he was shown only a yellow card.
It was a dreadful shame that the game's best player and tournament's leading scorer, Fiji's Roy Krishna, was often at the centre of controversy.
He was on the end of what the Fijians claimed was a deliberate elbow from Brockie before he stamped on defender Michael Boxall in clear view of the referee - who took no action.
Krishna also twice threw the ball at New Zealand players (again no cards) and then kicked out at Brockie at the end of the match as one of the Fijian substitutes raced on to the field to challenge the New Zealanders.
Fiji started the brightest, with Krishna rifling a shot past goalkeeper Jacob Spoonley. New Zealand replied with a Chris James penalty before skipper Dan Keat rose to nod in a close-range header in the 56th minute.
New Zealand looked to be controlling things until Sogo awarded Fiji a highly dubious 68th-minute penalty for handball. Krishna converted to take his tournament tally to seven from four games.
In a tense final quarter, Keat headed in a Brockie cross to give New Zealand three crucial points.
"I guess it was an entertainment package, really," New Zealand coach Stu Jacobs said diplomatically.
Entertainment? Possibly. Beautiful game? No chance.
