CHAPTER
THREE
1983
SOUTH PACIFIC GAMES (APIA, SAMOA)
Introduction
At the South Pacific Games 1983
(Apia, Samoa), this is where all the soccer greats of the Pacific played
against each other. I remember the Solomons’ team had one player by the name of
Henry Suri. He was a great striker. There was this player from Tahiti named
Bernard. There were other big names from the other Pacific nations. It was
great to be playing against the players of this calibre because most of them
had been playing in other nations such as France.
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| Nadi's Savenaca Waqa & Suva's Jone Ratu. |
I was very young
at this time; I was only 20. So, to watch and play against these players in a
tournament with the name “South Pacific” was like you were playing for the World
Cup; that is true. Getting into this team to represent Fiji was not easy. I had
to perform well in the trials to be selected as there were many other seasoned
and matured soccer players who had been around for some time, including Emasi
Koroi (“Bacardi”) and Marika Ravula. There were a lot of soccer players around
but I managed to get in.
To be selected
at a training session in Lautoka (Churchill Park) I remember that some of these
senior and elder trialists had vomited in the western heat. In fact everybody had
felt like vomiting. That training session I will never forget because I would
have dropped out too. It was just that I was fit enough to take the endurance
course and withstand the pressure. This was when my real career started. The 22
of us that had been selected I would say were the best. It would have been
better if the other players who had not been selected could have withstood the
pressure. There were quite a number of good talented classy players who were
dropped.
We managed to
beat Solomons 10-0 and Vanuatu 6-0 to get into the final against Tahiti (Mohit
Prasad, Celebrating 70 Years of Football,
1938-2008, Fiji Football Association, Suva, 2008, p. 43 and Appendix VII,
p. 95). It was a great experience to represent Fiji at the Games being an ambassador
for the country. We all camped at one venue – at the Leififi Teachers’ College
in Apia, Samoa. At the camp it was good to mingle with the other South Pacific
athletes. It was great to watch them prepare for a match in the school grounds.
We used to mingle with the volleyball and rugby players from Fiji. We would
listen to how they would prepare their game plan. We supported each other very
much especially for the women’s sports. They needed our support and we needed
their support. I remember that the other island nations would look up to us. I
remember when some Tahitian players came around to our classroom at the camp
and quietly asked: “Where is Joe Tubuna?” But we didn’t know that these were
some of the Tahitian players until we watched them on the field playing and we
said: “Hey, these players went into the classroom.” So we started teasing Joe
Tubuna: “Joe, you had better be careful, you’re gonna get some black magic
coming on your back. Maybe you’ll have a pulled muscle.” He said: “You bring
that black magic and I will eat it alive.” This was to show that Joe had a lot
of guts and a never-say-die attitude.
We would go for
a walk in the evenings when given half-an-hour break. We would see the Samoan
villagers walking on the street with big stomachs and without shirts. These
were really big Samoans looking like the sumo wrestlers. They would be holding
the big sugar canes and chewing them. It was really scary to walk past them. It
would be like they would just about whack you on your back and everyone was
ready to run. They would not say much, not “hey Talofa”. Down the road further
we would meet the landowners drinking beers on the side of the road. It was not
prohibited. This made it even scarier until we came to get used to it. The
beers were sold at every shop and very cheaply whereas in Fiji at that time you
could only get beer at the bootlegger and at the supermarket. Today beer is
sold at many shops in Fiji just like in Samoa then. So the Samoan beer was
tempting for a Fijian sportsman.
Four days before
playing New Caledonia in the semi-final we were given a break for two hours and
told to be back in camp by 8pm. I joined the older boys, Joe Tubuna, Upendra
Choi, and Semi Tabaiwalu, and we went for a few beers under a tree close to the
camp. The beer got sweeter and sweeter as the hours went by. Then the making up
of excuses started. We went on until 10pm. I said to myself: “I’m the youngest
one. I will leave it to the older boys to take the blame”. Joe said: “We are
all going to give our own excuses”. We said: “No, the captain must take the
burden”. We were all joking amongst ourselves thinking that we are really in
for trouble now. Little did we know that our manager, Jahir Khan, a police inspector,
had the police attitude and he was lying (sleeping) across the door so we could
not sneak in unnoticed. So we started calling from the door to Mohammed Salim,
who was sleeping very close to the door: “Salim, Salim” and then the answer was
from Jahir Khan (manager): “Were you looking for Salim? Salim is waiting for
you. Open the door”. As we were drunk we wanted to laugh and every negative
thought started to run around in our minds. Tubuna signalled to us to stay
still. Then Jahir opened the door. He asked us: “Where have you been?” Tubuna
gave an excuse but Jahir said: “Go and have a good sleep and wait for
tomorrow”. We did not sleep well that night. Some of the other players were
laughing at us because they sneaked in before time. They had consumed beer but
they were not caught.
In the morning I did not enjoy my breakfast,
thinking about what was about to happen, that I had let my teammates down and
my country down. After breakfast, our coach Rudi Gutendorf arrived at camp. We
were all called into the classroom and as a professional coach he scolded the team
as a whole. He did not point the finger at anyone. He mentioned: “I have this
idea of sending you back to Fiji. You have betrayed Fiji. You have betrayed
your family. You have betrayed yourselves [not pointing the finger at anyone]”.
So he takes our group of four for a training session in the Apia heat apart
from the rest of the team. He made us sweat out the alcohol for quite some time
and then he regrouped us all together again. I believe this camouflaged the
problem in front of the other island nations’ players whom we had camped
together with in the same school campus. It was a very professional approach
from our coach. He did not penalize us in front of everybody. This allowed us
to maintain our self-respect and dignity which was great especially for me as a
young boy.
Semi-final:
Fiji 3 New Caledonia 2, Apia Stadium
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| Abdul Manaan - scored the first goal vs NC. |
On
the eve of the semi-final, against New Caledonia, Rudi came up and talked about
our strategy and what to expect from the opposition. We went out with the full
support of the other athletes from the other Fiji teams (rugby, volleyball,
netball, and athletics). They were cheering us on even before we went into the
game. This really boosted our morale. Abdul Manaan scored the winner in this
game (the third goal). The game was a very hard-fought battle. It was a bit
rough and physical. I guess that the coaching strategy being put into place by
the German coach Rudi Gutendorf really worked for us. The strategy was, if they
were leading, for Fiji not to play defensively and to use the libro defence to come in from the
middle. He was the hidden attacker. And, when and if we were drawn, to play
one-on-one tactics, not to let go of them. This is where your fitness, guts,
and mentality count. It is a do-or-die
situation. We were at this stage. Abdul Manaan and Sam Work scored the first
two goals (Mohit Prasad, Celebrating 70
Years of Football, 1938-2008, Fiji Football Association, Suva, 2008, p.
43). When all the Fiji supporters were hoping for a goal, Tubuna scored the
winner (final score: 3-2) (Prasad, 2008, p. 43). We were like on Cloud Nine. We
hugged each other as if we had just been given the gold medal in the Olympics
or in the World Cup because we had proved to the management that their belief
in us had been warranted. Our coach Rudi Gutendorf almost cried in tears. This
was the first time I had seen him so happy. He was hugging all the senior
players to say his thankyou and they were very appreciative for the belief he
had shown in them. The camp mood was back to normal now. The mood was very
happy unlike before the game.
Final:
Tahiti 1 Fiji 0, Apia Stadium, match abandoned due to riot, game and series
awarded to Tahiti
On the eve of the final, our coach
Rudi Gutendorf, after drawing up our game strategies, gave us a promise,
mentioning that if we beat Tahiti he will buy all the beer at the shop closest
to the school campus and bring it back for the team. Because all sportsmen in
Fiji are beer drinkers, before the match we are thinking of the beer as the
prize. We were joking about this to each other as we walked down into the Apia
Stadium.
On the day
before the Tahiti game, our coach Rudi had a meeting with the soccer officials
running the games. He told them that we did not want any French nations’
referees to officiate. We were fighting to get officials from other island
nations rather than those from the French countries (i.e. Vanuatu, New
Caledonia, and Tahiti). We were concerned about favouritism. This favouritism
really happened in the finals leading to a disputed final. Rudi tried in vain
to have only one French official in the final but they still put two instead.
We had no choice but to play our hearts out. In the final the whole of the
Melanesian South Pacific island nations (i.e. Solomons and PNG) and Tonga (our
island neighbours) were supporting our soccer team. The French countries in the
region were against us. They were our main rivals because of the British and
French wars which came to influence sporting rivalry even all this time later
and even though most of the countries are independent now.
It is like the
communities were watching the re-enactment of war on the pitch. In Fiji some of
that loyalty to the British countries remains. Our coach was German and he
brought another aspect to the table. Possibly he brought some of the German
animosity towards the French into our attitude. We can’t read his mind and
these things are hard to pin down but it is probably true to say that we had
this impression. What he thought would happen in terms of double-standard
decisions by the referee and officials did come to pass.
 |
| L to R: Cheetah, Epeli Kosa & Henry Dyer. |
Tahiti had a lot
of players playing for French clubs with a lot of soccer skills and we were
aware of their ability to score quickly against us. We were ready for this.
When we had held them scoreless for the first 20 minutes we knew that we were
capable of conquering the South Pacific Soccer Kings on Apia Park. We almost
lost the match when libro full-back Stan Morrel back-passed to our goalkeeper
Savenaca Waqa in front of the goal-mouth. The goalkeeper casually tried to put
his foot on the ball but, because the type of ball used was not familiar to our
team and it travelled very fast on the dewy ground, he missed the ball and it
headed for the net. Luckily Savenaca Waqa, whom I know personally to be a very
fit and energetic person, was able to reach the ball in time to take a long
dive and tap it out. This made our coach jump up and down. He was frustrated
and worried and yelling to our reserve goalkeeper (Bale Raniga) to warm up.
Whilst Bale is warming up, Save makes a glamorous save in the air and another
save. Tahiti was attacking our goal-mouth at this time. Rudi now has double
thoughts as to whether to change the goalkeeper.
As the game came
to half-time both teams were evenly matched with neither side dominating. In
the first 10 minutes of the game, Rudi asked me to get ready to replace our
captain Joe Tubuna. I did not know why. Maybe he saw that Joe’s opposite was
penetrating our defence. I believe so because he asked me to stick to the
central midfielder and not to let him run free or take possession. It was a bit
like the New Caledonia game. The Tahitians were tough and also physical in
their approach to the ball. However, we had the upper hand in the encounters in
the air. We were taught by our German coach to be King and to conquer our
opponent in the aerial contests. This played a major role in the game meaning
that, when our opponent is on the ground, he is psychologically defeated.
Ten minutes
before the game was due to end, there was a tussle between our defenders and
their attackers. The goal-mouth was full of both sets of players. Everyone was
busy either trying to score or trying to clear in the Fiji goal-mouth. One of
our Fiji defenders (it may have been Semi Tabaiwalu or Stan Morrel) cleared the
ball but before clearing the linesman indicated to the referee that the ball in
mid-air had crossed the line. There was a big commotion on the field from both
sides as we had been warned prior to the match about the likely decisions of
the French officials. While complaining to the referee about the linesman’s
decision, our eyes were on the bench where our officials were sitting. The
referee listened to the linesman and allowed the disputed goal. We were all
flabbergasted and amazed. Anger and frustration sunk into our heads. Our team
officials walked on to the pitch.
One of the
players got punched by our striker Rusiate Waqa and fell to the ground. Our masseur
(Madrai from Suva) started the chase now from behind the Tahitian goal-mouth;
he was chasing the goalkeeper around the pitch. By now we were chasing the
other Tahitian players around the athletics track at the Apia Stadium. The
Samoan police-force, with the blue helmet type of hats, walked on to the pitch
to stop further antagonisms. Some of the cool-headed players were helping them
too.
Rusiate Waqa and
another player were arrested and taken into the Apia Police Station. Luckily we
had our police inspector Jahir Khan. He went there and he brought him out which
he could do because of his status as a police inspector. The whole of the Fiji
contingent was behind the soccer team. We could not do much. The game was
cancelled because of the riot with 10 minutes remaining. The soccer officials
held a meeting about the match and they decided that Tahiti should be declared
the winners. We were awarded the silver medal as the runners-up. I don’t know
if today the same emotions remain as strong for the participants as they were
back then. I was very fortunate to participate and witness such an event. The
South Pacific Games Closing Ceremony was very colourful to watch.
 |
| Henry Dyer (left) & Emasi Koroi ("Bacardi"). |
After the game
we were not too happy about the decision which led to the silver medal.
However, you have to accept both the good and the bad events which come into
your life. If the goal had been recorded on camera it may have vindicated us
and won us the gold. The coach and the manager were a lethal combination after
the game. Billy Singh and Mani Naicker, who were understudies to Rudi, later
became the country’s best coaches. Rudi cried as he had known and said that we
would be cheated. At the end he bought us our beers! Some of our players after
these games retired and some moved on overseas. I am sorry that up until today
only a few of us former national reps have made it into coaching. This is one fact
which no-one has investigated or commented upon. This may be partly because the
Fiji FA does not advertise coaching training clinics in the newspapers or on
TV. Those were the good old days when you played soccer to enjoy for fun.
The Nadi players in the Fiji team then were heroes
even though we came second. The fact that the goal was not scored (but allowed
anyway) was similar to the decision in the IDC Final between Nadi and Ba in
1982 which was controversial because of floodlights. The Nadi soccer fans were
now used to controversy. The diehard fans had this belief for Nadi – “O Nadi
Ko” meaning that: “We are Nadi, This is our Time”. I enjoyed mixing with our
soccer supporters back at home in Nadi. Our Indian fans were crazier than the
Fijians or the natives. We became well known characters in Nadi Town and people
would talk to us on the street from all walks of life. This was a new thing for
me. I had never come across this in my whole life.
[Henry Dyer interview with Dr Kieran James of
University of Fiji, 14 May 2014, Nadi.]
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| Apia Park, Apia, Samoa. The athletics track still surrounds the football pitch just as in 1983. |
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| Apia Park, Apia, Samoa. The athletics track still surrounds the football pitch just as in 1983. |
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| Joe Tubuna funeral @ Govind Park, Ba, Fiji players carrying the casket, 1984. Manager Jahir Khan is in necktie and white shirt. Joe Tubuna died from a car accident on 4 August 1984 (Mohit Prasad, Celebrating 70 Years of Football, 1938-2008, Fiji Football Association, Suva, p. 44). |
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| Tony Kabakoro of Suva and Fiji (third from left) pictured here with the Suva team, sometime in the 1980s. Tony Kabakoro scored the two goals in Fiji's 2-0 win over New Zealand in Suva. |
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