By TERRY MADDAFORD
The soccer pitch in Port Moresby that last week was ruled unfit to host matches in the Oceania Football Confederation club championship has now been cleared and the January 9-22 tournament given the go-ahead.
The president of the Papua New Guinea FA, Madiu Andrew, told the OFC emergency committee: "We have engaged professional assistance both from Australia and PNG to ensure the soccer grounds for the tournament will be in good stead."
The ground will be further inspected on December 15 and if it is decreed the ground will not be fit for play, the tournament will be switched to Fiji.
New Zealand Soccer chief executive Bill MacGowan has real concerns over the decision to stick with Port Moresby and in naming Fiji as the alternate.
"This is regarded by Fifa as their second most important tournament but we are still being confronted by issues like this," said MacGowan. "If it is to go to Fiji there are a number of things, including the dates, to be decided.
"We don't know whether the New Zealand Government will allow our team [Napier City Rovers] to go to Fiji.
"There has been a lot of misinformation from the OFC. We had a meeting with them last Thursday at which time we reconfirmed our willingness to host the tournament. All we asked was to delay it a few days to avoid the Big Day Out at Ericsson Stadium.
"We were able to reassure Oceania that the Fijian team would be allowed to come into New Zealand. We also have some concerns about health issues, particularly regarding the water, in Fiji."
In their statement yesterday, OFC spokesman Tai Nicholas said New Zealand and Australia had been ruled out by the emergency committee as they could not guarantee entry for the Fijian team.
MacGowan is annoyed that this has been seen as an issue as he has had assurances from Sports Minister Trevor Mallard that as an international event, visas would not be withheld.
"There are a number of other concerns including the apparent about-face on the date by which players had to be signed by the participating clubs," said MacGowan. "The clubs were originally told transfers could be made up until 15 days before the tournament but now they have been told the deadline was October 15.
"This has hurt Napier who had hoped to include goalkeeper Simon Eaddy once his position with the Kingz was known." "
Fiji, drawn in the same group as Napier and Australian club Wollongong, will be represented by Foodtown Warriors.
The top two teams in each group will play off to find the OFC representative at the World Club Championship in Spain next August at which all teams are assured of taking home almost $US4 million.
Soccer: PNG cleared for champs
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.