Nadi 2,
New Caledonia 0, Prince Charles Park, Nadi (1983), by Henry Dyer.
When Nadi was at the
height of its winning streak, New Caledonia toured Fiji and Nadi beat them here
at home. This was one game where the Nadi soccer team players clicked and
gelled so well together that we were able to outplay the New Caledonians. New
Caledonia was a strong team. They were positioned second or equal first to the
Tahitian team as Kings of the Pacific Soccer. In this game we used Rudi
Gutendorf’s methods. It was very easy to implement his pattern of play as most
of the Nadi team players were seasoned and matured. The methods included
one-on-one tactics where you stick to them in defence and create hidden
attacking football patterns which are hard to pick up and detect. I guess,
because we had a winning combination during the season, we did not have much
difficulty. As the game progressed we became more confident with our strategies
and we were able to control and dictate play. The home crowd had much to do
with our positive performance because of its continual cheering. Some of the
players in the Nadi side were Tela Qoro, Inosi Tora, and Kini Tubi. They were a
tower of strength in defence along with Peter Dean. Their attacking play from
the back kept the New Caledonians back-pedalling most of the time. The final
score was: Nadi 2, New Caledonia 0. Rusiate Waqa scored both goals (as
confirmed in phone conversation with Rusiate Waqa, 5 June 2014). One goal was
scored in the first-half and one goal was scored in the second-half.
In the New
Caledonia game here at Prince Charles Park Nadi beat New Caledonia 2-0. New
Caledonia had just played Fiji and drew before playing another two matches
against Fiji which were also drawn. We had just come out of the Fiji camp to
play for Nadi. This was New Caledonia’s build-up for the South Pacific Games.
The four players from Nadi to be released were Savenaca Waqa, Rusiate Waqa,
Peter Dean, and me. It was because of our return to Nadi from camp that we
lifted the standard and the morale of the team even further. Nadi had been a
championship winning team. Our manager then was Mohammed Azaad. He was a very
professional coach who liked to come and talk to the boys and bring them up to
an emotional peak just before the start of the game. He was a very soft-spoken
and down-to-earth guy. He was always willing to help when a player needed help
with family at home. He was a guy that made sure that the management did their
bit to keep the players happy at camp.
Nadi had a
camp for that game to prepare as this game was very important for the Nadi
soccer supporters. It was the first time Nadi had played an international match
against any other team. It was a different feeling to come out from camp with
Fiji and play for your district team. You could feel the expectations of the
fans for you to create a miracle whilst playing for Nadi. That day Prince
Charles Park was totally full of spectators for the first time. This is one of
the days I will never forget – playing my heart out because I was playing in
front of my home crowd. The day was more memorable because of my young age. The
whole of the Nadi community, especially the people from the villages (which are
very close to each other and also close to Prince Charles Park), were present
at the stadium to watch the game. You could tell by the calls in the Nadi
dialect.
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| Henry Dyer (left) and Emasi Koroi (Bacardi). |
New
Caledonia, to my surprise, did not control the game at any point. I don’t know
why. It could have been because of the cheering from the crowd. It may have
been because we had just expertly read the game. Our central midfielder, Emasi
Koroi (“Bacardi”), played a major role in this match. Our defence was really
strong with Inosi Tora holding them together. Savenaca Waqa made quite a number
of brilliant saves which caused the confidence of our team to increase.
Everybody played their part. Peter Dean used his height well to outjump the New
Caledonia attackers and to clear the ball. This encouraged us to believe that
we could win a victory in every position even before half-time. At the
half-time break I, as a young player, was already feeling very confident that
we could dominate the second-half and win the match. This was my first
international game. This game was where I gained the confidence to play at this
level of competition. I was lucky to have broken into the limelight, as I have
already said, playing alongside the matured and capable soccer players of Fiji.
I think that this was the first time for some of us to play against an
international team too. When people ask “how did you do it?” I must reply: “I
don’t know, it just happened”.
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| Rudi Gutendorf, Fiji coach, 1983. |
At the
beginning of the second-half they came back to show that we were going to be in
for a difficult 45-minutes. They almost scored an early goal but, unfortunately
for them, the kick missed its target. This event made us wake up and mentally
rebuke ourselves for falling asleep. This made us start to communicate with
each other with a view to shutting off their attacking moves. It took us about
15-minutes to contain the impetus of their attacks. After this we were able to
take back the control of the game. We had been able to defeat the New Caledonia
forward thrusts. Straight after this our ability to handle this situation, and
the cheers of the crowd for us, were the factors which allowed us to
psychologically dominate the opposition. Therefore, I really think that in any
sport the crowd plays a major role and can even make the difference between
winning and losing. But only a team which can play against a hostile crowd will
be able to go on to reach their full potential and win more games than they
lose. So I guess New Caledonia did not have these qualities on that day. So to
win a game is about being mentally stronger as well as about being more
talented. To gain all this success is the result of taking all of the hard
knocks, training hard, and being mentally aggressive and determined. It is not
only about having these qualities but being able to work together in harmony as
a team.
We became
heroes in town after this match especially for the two Indian boys, Navaneeda
K. Gounder and Manu Pokar. I would walk past the shops in town and I would hear
“is that really him?” as I was a very small guy then. Today they see me but
it’s not like then. As with any sportsman of the day, people would be eager to
talk to you and to know who you really were. They wanted to know where you
originated from and who your parents were. Then the gossip would go around.
Today nobody wants to know you with the same eagerness. I think this is where
Fiji soccer has declined, not only in terms of performance but in terms of
atmosphere and passionate support. It is a pity that there is nothing being
done to bring the former football players together as they have done overseas
at club level. Maybe they have more money overseas but still there is a way to
bring the old players back together. Even the fans from those years do not want
to know anything about soccer now. I would see most of the fans from that era
watching rugby and supporting Nadi Rugby. This includes the Indian fans as well
as the Fijian fans.
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| Prince Charles Park, Nadi, for Nadi versus Labasa. |
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