The Prince and the Park

The Fiji Football Association has made some amendments to it’s Constitution and it was passed during its Extra Ordinary Congress at the Blue Light Hotel in Nadi yesterday.

Fiji FA president Rajesh Patel said the amendments were passed after majority members voted in favour by the 23-district member associations who all fully supported the amendments.

He said Fiji FA is now in line with the statutes of Oceania Football Confederation and world governing body, FIFA.

“Eighty to eighty five percent of our statutes were already in line with FIFA’s statutes, it was the new statutes of FIFA which we needed to be in line with and today the draft statutes were approved and passed by the members,” he said.

Patel said they also approved amendments to the Governance Regulations of Fiji FA which is made-up of the ethics code, anti-doping code and disciplinary code.

“This immediately comes into effect from today and districts will see the changes. Now the districts will have to fall in line with Fiji FA statutes,” he said.

Former Fiji FA chief executive Bob Kumar was tasked to get the administration of districts in line.

“We’ve few districts that have already to the British crown. Following this tradition, they had named (Prince) Andrew’s Park, adjoining Prince Charles Park, when the second prince was born in 1960. The proclamation of Nadi township led to the government acquisition of the present site of Prince Charles Park and adjoining Koroivula Park as civic reserves.

A sporting field in the area existed from the late 1930’s and was soon developed into the municipal sporting fields for Nadi.

Rugby and football games began to take place on it soon after. Nadi first hosted the IDC in 1942 at the grounds, with Rewa defending their IDC crown 3-0 over Suva. The Nadi Football side was formed in 1939. A last-minute bid by the future jet setters to ride on the coattails of the inaugural IDC founders in 1938 and register their association, was rejected by the Fiji Indian Football Association. Nadi rugby following the success of the 1938 indigenous Fijian XV tour of New Zealand, initially played their matches as part of the Western Rugby Union based in Lautoka. The WWII and post War boom of the 1940s in Nadi, saw the beginnings of Nadi Rugby Union. And they were formally registered as Nadi RU in 1958 marking the beginning of the nursey of champions of Fiji rugby from the original Flying Fijian Jo Levula onwards. Both Association and Union were to play at and play lead roles in the development of Prince Charles park, along with Nadi Town Council. asked Bob to look at their statutes and get their statutes in line with Fiji FA statutes. He will take a look at them, make the appropriate changes and take them back to the districts.

“The districts will then call their extraordinary congress and get their clubs to pass their constitution and this will help the entire process all the way from the club system to the national body.

“If the constitutions are aligned then it is very helpful to the districts as issues like protests and player registrations and so on can easily be solved.”

Patel is adamant that players would also have to be in line with the statutes of both Fiji FA and their districts and those who break rules will be given harsh penalties. Former England star striker Michael Owen is set to be the main guest at the 2019 Fiji FA awards night in February 2020.

Patel said they are in discussion with FIFA and Owen is expected to be in the country early next year. He said the trip will be made possible under the FIFA Legends Programme. Owen will also conduct clinics and visit schools and clubs during his stay.

“This year we had Mikel Sylvester as the main guest during our annual awards function at the Sofitel Resort and next year we are getting ready to have Michael Owen.

Nadi had finally arrived in the scene as they also played in the 1952 IDC finals. In a marathon match that went into three extra time sessions with both teams tied, Suva finally broke the deadlock with a goal in the fourth spell of extra time to win 2-1. The following year Nadi looked set to break their IDC duck, but lost 1-2 with Lautoka and Augustine Thoman. Sadly, Nadi made it a hat trick of IDC final losses in 1954 losing to Suva 0-1. Nadi had to wait until 1960, before their next IDC final, only to loss 0-1 to Suva in a rain delayed end to the IDC. Nadi hosted the IDC for the second time in 1961 and looked set to break their IDC hoodoo leading 1-0 to the dying stages. Zikar Ali and Augustine Thoman combined for last minute heroics to again foil Nadi and hand Ba their first IDC win. “We want to reward our hardworking players and officials in a bigger and better way every year and having legends of the sport present at the event surely adds more colour and encourages everyone to contribute more to football,” he said.

Owens played for English clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United before joining Real Madrid. Fiji FA has fined and suspended five players after they tested positive for drugs.

Three players were tested positive during the Courts Inter District Championship after Fiji FA conducted random drug tests after a few of matches at Prince Charles Park in Nadi.

The players are from the premier and senior divisions respectively. Furthermore, Patel also confirmed the kick-off times for the Sunday finals have changed.

The senior final which was scheduled to start at 1pm will now start at 2pm while the premier final will kickoff at 4pm.

“This is to give the two teams a good preparation time frame as per the semi-final,” he said.

Labasa play Nadi at 4pm today in the first semifinal while Ba face Suva at 6pm in the second semifinal. Bobby Tikaram, from the illustrious Lami family, had moved to Nadi for a career at the airport. After a stellar playing career ended by injury, he moved to sports administration with a vengeance. He was Secretary of Nadi soccer under President S.V Chetty, as the side prepared for the IDC in Labasa. Nadi as befitting the town with Fiji’s international airport were promised a plane ride home if they won the first IDC outside of Viti Levu and Ovalau.

Ba after their hat trick of wins (1966-1968) were the hottest side in the islands. Suva were also widely tipped after beating Ba in the fund raising for South Pacific Games Viti Levu IDC finals. Nadi made short work of the initial knock out rounds, and faced Ba in their semifinals, and came away with a 1-0win courtesy of gun forward Rasul Dean.

Suva were now IDC favourites as they came in from the other side of the draw. Nadi with the promise of a jet ride home, rose to the occasion to defeat a star-studded Suva side, for their first IDC win. Dean heavily marked escaped the Suva attentions for a powerful left footer that cracked against the wooden bar of the goal posts. Diminutive midfielder Aiyub Kutti following the Dean thunderbolt home, side footed the ball into the net with a neat instep for the winning goal. Nadi with the precious Lloyd Farebrother trophy safely in their keeping same back to the jet set town for a hero’s welcome from tarmac to town in August 1969. And for those keeping track of the years, their IDC win in1969 coincided with the Thirtieth (30th) anniversary of the formation of Nadi Football Association. And 2019 marks the 80th year of their formation.

Tomorrow, Part II:” The Prince at the Park and a Second Nadi IDC win”, follows the visit to Prince Charles Park by his Royal Highness and the building of a pavilion prior to Nadi hosting the 1971 IDC.