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| Bill McKinlay Park, Auckland - the venue for the third and final game of the 1985 NZ tour. The final score was New Zealand 2 Fiji 0. If we look only at the scorelines Fiji improved as the tour went on. |
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| L to R: Cheetah, Epeli Kosa & Henry Dyer. |
We toured New Zealand later but we
did not do well because we were not using the European soccer pattern from
Germany. We had a good combination of youth and seasoned players who were
travelling on this tour to represent Fiji. The youth players were Ivor Evans,
Akuila Rova, and this tall Muslim boy from Ba (Mohd. Aiyub Bai). The seasoned
players were Savenaca Waqa, Abraham Watkins, Meli Vuilabasa, Stan Morrel,
Rusiate Waqa, Sam Work, and Kelemedi “Cheetah” Vosuga. In the backs there was
Stan Morrel, Abdul Manaan, and me. In the midfield there was Meli Vuilabasa, Kelemedi
“Cheetah” Vosuga, and Tony Kabakoro. In the forwards there was Ivor Evans,
Rusiate Waqa, and Akuila Rova. The goalkeeper was Savenaca Waqa. The reserve
goalkeeper was Suka Tuba (from the since relegated Nasinu Soccer Association).
This was the core of the team which I vividly remember. We had the cream of the
crop there. Unfortunately we lost all three matches. Maybe it was due to complacency
and the extremely cold weather. We had to turn on the electric blankets before
we went to bed. It was the first time for me to use an electric blanket and see
firewood burning in a modern cement house. It was all new to me. It must have
been a very new experience for most of the players and especially for the
younger boys who had just joined the squad. This was the first time for me to
go overseas, outside of the Pacific Islands region, to represent the nation.
We did not do
too badly against the New Zealand team in the three matches even though they
almost walked all over us in every game. The opening match was played at Mount
Maunganui on 3 June 1985 in front of a crowd of 2,250 people. The second game
was played at Childers Road Reserve, Gisborne on 5 June 1985 and the attendance
was 1,500 people. The third and final game was played at Bill McKinlay Park in
Auckland on 7 June 1985 in front of a crowd of 1,000 people (“New Zealand
International Matches Details: 1980-1989” at rsssf.com). The scores were: 5-0
in the first game, 3-0 in the second game and 2-0 in the third and final game
(Mohit Prasad, Celebrating 70 Years of
Football, 1938-2008, Fiji Football Association, Suva, 2008, Appendix VII,
p. 94; “New Zealand International Matches Details: 1980-1989” at rsssf.com). We
managed to hold them back with our individual strength in defence. We would
have been thrashed badly if we had lost our composure.
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| Childers Road Reserve Gisborne - second game venue. |
I learned a lot
on this trip. Looking back, from the perspective of today, I believe that we
had a missing ingredient within the touring party. I think it was the motivator
or mentor. One factor was because the German coach Rudi Gutendorf had left the
team. The English play pattern, which he had brought from Germany to Fiji in
1983, had been grasped by the senior players who were able to implement it with
skill. In two years, in the absence of Rudi in Fiji, the attacking and the
defensive patterns had faded away to the extent that most of the boys by then
had adapted to a new pattern. So it was a mix of the old and the new. I always
take my hat off to the local coach, Billy Singh, for taking the Fiji soccer
team through until he passed away. If there had been a senior person close to
the team as a motivator or mentor, such as the late Joe Tubuna, his appearance
on the field with a few words of encouragement would have made a lot of
difference. Billy had played with Tubuna and so they had already developed a
working partnership. The boys respected Joe as a player, a captain, and a
leader. He had the art to charm the boys with his smile and his talk. He got
along well with the boys. He was a very down-to-earth person. I believe that if
Fiji Football Association had thought of the small things, such as taking along
a motivator or mentor to psych up the team before games, the performance of the
team might well have been better.
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| Bill McKinlay Park - third game venue. |
I remember the
first game we played at Mount Maunganui. As I said, we played our hearts out.
At times we started to argue amongst ourselves. No-one knew that we were
arguing because it was in the Fijian language. It was only about how to
strengthen our defence and how not to take any further punishment. As often
happens in Fiji soccer today, there was a lot of crowding up and no-one on the
side-lines to tell us to use the flanks. There was no-one who was reading the
game from outside to tell us our weaknesses and our strengths. There are two
points here. There was no motivator and no strategist or technical adviser.
However, during this tour, the Fijian community in New Zealand looked after the
boys well. They were there to cheer the boys on during the games and they
hosted the boys after the matches were finished.
Today, when the
national team leaves our shores, they should consider that they are taking
Fiji’s name and that they are going as ambassadors. They should be prepared to
counter and display all aspects of the modern approach to the game. They should
have a structure to their play. It would be better to have two or three
patterns and then stick to those two or three patterns. Then, if the team or
the squad changes, the pattern is still there. I know it will not be easy to
reach this standard of preparation and performance. It will not be done
overnight. It will take a period of time, perhaps three years or five years.
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| Bill McKinlay Park, NZ v Mexico, Aug 1980. |
I hope that Fiji
Football can look into these issues especially when the various national teams
go on overseas tours. Our national team and the Under-20s team should both have
at least two overseas tours per year. This will bring standard and composure to
the players and bring the teams’ games up to the modern world standard. It is a
wonder that the other Pacific nations which we used to thrash, such as Solomons
and Vanuatu, are now our biggest threats and continually beat us. I don’t know
what is happening with our performance as we play more tournaments and league
matches than the other Pacific nations. We have the talent in the villages and
in the rural settlements in the cane-belt areas (the western region of Viti
Levu plus Labasa) to become a successful soccer nation at Oceania level and
possibly beyond that. If we could beat Newcastle United, Australia, and New
Zealand in the 1980s, I am sure that, with careful strategic planning and
expert leadership, we can be close to NZ and Australia or even above them. I
pray that one day maybe government or FIFA or Oceania Confederation will come
in to evaluate and alleviate all aspects of the game’s management and
performance. When we were doing well in the past the rugby crowd and players
used to follow us. They mingled with us very closely because in our
performances we had shown ourselves to be a notch above them. Beers were given
to us by the soccer crowd just like a packet of cigarettes today. You would
just walk into a shop and they would give it. This is evidence of the support
which existed for soccer back then but the game was heading in the wrong
direction because there were no overarching strategic plans either on-the-field
or off-the-field. Today rugby may be laughing at our sport of soccer because of
the placing that they have in the world rankings compared to our placing. The
talent in the villages is a constant factor and can be used to play either or
both sports. Therefore, rugby’s success compared to soccer’s must be due to
superior strategic planning and management. I believe that Rajesh Patel has the
vision to put Fiji back on the soccer map.
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| Abdul Manaan (Fiji). |
Unfortunately,
Fiji’s soccer success in the past is not widely known among the younger people.
If the younger soccer fans knew about Fiji’s soccer history then it would be a
source of pride and inspiration. When former star soccer players go to watch
the senior games today the crowd does not seem to know them or consider them as
somebody. However, little do they know that they were the driving forces of
soccer in that previous era. Soccer history largely exists in verbal form,
rather than in written form, in Fiji; and this means that it can fade away as
one generation disappears. Lack of interest is another factor for the dearth of
substantial written soccer history in this country. To recap, the 1985 tour of
New Zealand was a lesson for me personally and for Fiji soccer.
[By
the former Fiji national team player Henry Dyer, as told to Dr Kieran James of
University of Fiji in Nadi, 26 September 2014.]
Match Results
326. (164) International Friendly
Jun 3, Mount Maunganui, attendance: 2,250
New Zealand 5-0 Fiji
(Colin Walker 30', 64', 69', Kevin Hagan 33', Greg Little 61')
New Zealand:
Clint Gosling, Richard Mulligan, Ceri Evans, Malcolm Dunford, Keith Hobbs,
Duncan Cole [c], Kevin Hagan (Declan Edge), Colin Walker, Greg Little, Peter
Henry, Peter Simonsen.
Coach: Kevin Fallon.
Fiji:
Waqa, Salesi, Watkins, Manaan, Morrell, Tuidraki, Evans, Waqa, Work
(Aiyub), Viulabasa (Tubi), Vosuqa (Rova).
Coach: n/a
Referee:
Gary Fleet (New Zealand).
327. (165) International Friendly
Jun 5, Gisborne, Childers Road, attendance: 1,500
New Zealand 3-0 Fiji
(Colin Walker 32', 59', Steve Sumner 36')
New Zealand:
Clint Gosling, Richard Mulligan (Greg Little), Ken Cresswell, Malcolm Dunford,
Keith Hobbs, Sean Byrne (Ceri Evans), Peter Simonsen, Duncan Cole [c] (Peter
Henry), Steve Sumner, Kevin Hagan (Kevin Birch), Colin Walker.
Coach: Kevin Fallon.
Fiji:
Waqa, Watkins, Manaan, Morrell, Tuidraki, Shah (Tubi), Evans, Work,
Viulabasa, Kabakoro (Vosuqa), Rova (Waqa).
Coach: n/a
Referee:
John Cameron (New Zealand).
328. (166) International Friendly
Jun 7, Auckland, Bill McKinlay Park, attendance: 1,000
New Zealand 2-0 Fiji
(Steve Sumner 8' pen, Shah 64' og)
New Zealand:
Frank van Hattum, Richard Mulligan (William McClure), Ceri Evans, Malcolm Dunford,
Keith Hobbs, Duncan Cole [c], Peter Simonsen, Steve Sumner, Peter Henry, Greg
Little (Kevin Birch), Kevin Hagan.
Coach: Kevin Fallon.
Fiji:
Waqa, Watkins, Morrell, Tubi, Tuidraki, Shah (Salesi), Evans,
Waqa (Kabakoro), Work (Vyas), Viulabasa, Vosuqa.
Referee:
Bill Munro (New Zealand).
http://www.rsssf.com/tablesn/nz-intres-det80.html#85
Note 1: Henry Dyer is listed here using his Fijian name Tuidraki.
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