KEY POINTS:
As an object lesson in how to promote your greatest sporting hero, Saturday's festival match at New Caledonia's national football stadium was a cracker.
That homegrown star Christian Karembeu was able to cajole many of his 1998 French World Cup-winning teammates including Zinedine Zidane and Robert Pires to join him in a festival match against an Oceania selection obviously helped. But it was not the only reason 20,000 fans packed the ground.
Even a rugby superstar as recognisable as Jonah Lomu running on to a field in rugby-mad New Zealand for a similarly festive occasion could not ever hope to replicate the scenes at Stade Numa-Daly.
The match, won 8-2 by Les Blues with Pires scoring four and Zidane two, was a mere bit part on a night of passion. Passion for the game and the occasion but, more than anything, for the player from the Lifou who played his way onto the world stage but without ever giving up on his roots.
There was none of the aloofness which too often is sadly associated with many sporting greats.
Earlier, in a game originally scheduled as the curtainraiser but transferred following heavy overnight rain, young Auckland players were reduced to tears.
It was only a small-sided game on a small pitch but the significance went much deeper than the result.
In beating the team representing the strong Auckland federation 2-0 in the final of the Oceania Football Confederations youth festival, the Flying Arrows from Ba took another small step on the path to credibility for the confederations island nations.
The win followed the recent victory scored by Kossa FC (Solomon Islands) over Waitakere United in the first leg of their O-League final play-off and confirmation that the Solomon Islands will again play in Fifas World Beach Soccer Championship.
Auckland, a late addition to the 20-team under-12 tournament here and including sons of former All Whites Noel Barkley and Michael Ridenton, had done well to reach the final but two second-half goals earned the team from the Fijian coastal village a spot in September's world finals in France.
As the Fijians celebrated their victory with a war dance, the plucky Aucklanders struggled to fight back the tears.
Off the field, the associated OFC Congress produced plenty of talking points including a suggestion from Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy that, in time, an Oceania-based team should play in the A-League.
He went on to suggest Karembeu should manage the team at which point Karembeu's wife, Slovakian model Adriana Sklenarikova, in 2006 voted the most sexy woman in the world said, to Lowy "show us the contract".
FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said the addition of an Oceania team was some way off as they are committed to adding two Australian teams in the 2009-2010 season and another two within two years of that.
In his address to the congress, Fifa President Sepp Blatter again spoke of the 6+5 initiative aimed at getting a stronger homegrown representation in the world's top club teams.
He admitted they face employment issues, particularly in Europe, but said they feel it is a vital step for the betterment of the game.
While that might not be an issue for teams in New Zealand and Australia where they have a 3+8 breakdown or 4+7 if a marquee player is signed, Blatter's determination that all football competitions should have a promotion-relegation element will bring consternation to the New Zealand Football Championship and A-League clubs who have operated on a closed shop basis.
At last night's OFC executive meeting, it was decided to defer any decision on the proposed changes to the O-League, including the status of New Zealand teams until a workshop in Auckland next month.
