Soccer: Crowd trouble puts heat on Oceania

Oceania soccer is again in the spotlight after the final of its under-20 tournament in the Solomon Islands on Monday was abandoned.

Australia, who led the host nation 3-0 in front of 22,000 spectators in Honiara, will now represent Oceania at the Fifa World Youth World Championships in the Netherlands.

This is despite the match being called off 13 minutes early after crowd trouble flared following the third Australian goal.

There were several incidents during the game in which Australia took the lead with a sixth-minute penalty.

Australia went further ahead on the hour when Vince Lia scored. Shortly after the game was delayed for 10 minutes as tensions between spectators inside the ground and those watching from outside flared.

After David Williams scored the visitors third goal in the 74th minute, trouble flared again and after consultation between police and Oceania Football Confederation officials it was decided to abandon the match with the result standing.

The world championships will be played from June 10-July 2.

The incidents in Honiara will again bring the programming of such tournaments into question.

A NZ Soccer committee last year had recommended to their board that New Zealand not participate.

It was a tournament beset with problems.

The Cook Islands withdrew at a late stage and American Samoa also had to pull out, causing the tournament to be delayed. Games were postponed because of flooding and two New Zealand players suffered heat exhaustion.

The NZS board meets this month and the U-20s' participation in the Solomons where they failed to reach the semifinals and the impending OFC under-17 tournament in New Caledonia are likely to be discussed.