WHY WE’RE HERE? FOOTBALL COACH TELLS

Official of an Australian football club is in the country to sign up local players. The club has seen that Fijian players have the potential to play professional football and are making use of the opportunity before scouts from other international clubs come in.

Frankston Pine Football coach and sports director Kevin Taylor said Fiji is rich with talents.

“These are talented footballers who are not nurtured at all,” he said. “Fiji is really an untapped market, we regularly get players from Europe, a few from South America but we’ve had a few from the Pacific islands as well.

“We got a couple of them coming in like Esala Masi. He was with us for a while many years ago.”

Taylor said they are impressed with the athleticism of the Fijian players. “I’ve seen plenty games on the internet since we started this project. After all the videos that

I’ve watched totally highlighted the potential of players that we have in Fiji.”

The club are targeting Vodafone Fijian Under-23 players of Savenaca Baleidrokadroka, Peni Tui, Kishan Sami, Esala Batikasa and striker Tito Vodowaqa.

“These players were identified by the Fiji Football Association and they are keen to come to Melbourne.” “Our season starts on March 22. Prior to that we’ve got a couple of FFA cup rounds leading to the season.”

Taylor added the club aims to establish a pathway that would allow more Fijian footballers to play in professional teams.