Harry Atisson who has been promoting football in the country in recent years was disappointed over the actions of football fans yesterday at the PVM Stadium.Atisson was seen with tears on the national TV during the live coverage of the match between Tafea and Lautoka at the PVM Stadium yesterday afternoon.
"My efforts and those who are promoting football in the country are wasted", he said.
"My efforts and those who are promoting football in the country are wasted"
The O-League match between Tafea F.C. and Lautoka F.C. was interrupted by Tafea supporters who stormed the pitch over the FIFA referee's decisions on the Tafea's side.
When asked about his opinion as a referee development officer and OFC/FIFA referee committee member over the incident, Atisson said "FIFA referee, Michael Hester understood the game and what he did was right".
"The referee applied the laws of the game, and mistakes too can happen anywhere in the world, yet you don't see supporters attacking the referees", he said.
The referees that officiated yesterday's match were selected by OFC referee committee which Atisson is part of, as an exercise to prepare them to participate in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
"Those were my referees and they have reached the U17 World Cup semi-finals last year in Nigeria. We should be proud of them because they represent Oceania and are of high and international standard. They applied every laws during the match and you could tell the difference with local referees", he said.
"I am terribly sorry for what happened. The President of the Republic of Vanuatu and the president of Vanuatu Football Federation were there", said Atisson.
"It's a shame, while we are trying our best to take football to another level, some ignorant are trying to paint a bad picture about us", he added.
According to Atisson, the actions could cause Vanuatu to loose some opportunities at the OFC and FIFA level.
Photo: Referees L-R - Tevita Makasini [TON], Michael Hester [NZL], Jan-Hendrik Hintz . Fourth official - Soterio Bernard
6 comments:
It is indeed a sad moment for vanuatu football, after all the efforts from all sponsors and supporters of fairplay.
Those involve must face a full force of law. Also review security procedures and upgrade stadium to safe guard players and officials safety.
Disappointed.
l would think vanuatu would be not far off to be part of the world cup .
but with these stupid reactions from idiots like that l dont think we will go any where .
maybe in the next 40 years , grow up
NI VANS , c'mon .
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