OFC News

The laughter, fun, culture and football is on its way to Noumea.

Stade Pentecost and Stade Numa Daly will host the 3rd edition of the OFC Youth Festival and the scene is set for the biggest and best event yet.

Teams from around Oceania will gather in Noumea in a spirit of peace and cultural understanding at a football tournament where winning isn’t the most important element.

Erakor Primary School are making the trip from Vanuatu and their 14 strong squad is excited about a trip they will never forget.

Created in 1981 after the Independence, Erakor is the only bilingual primary school from Vanuatu. Erakor was established when two primary school’s merged - the French school created in 68 with the English school created in 1950.

Last year, Erakor School finished second in the national “together kids” tournament which has recently been dominated by Abuanga’s school from Pentecost.

The school plays and train on the close-by community field where Erakor’s Football Team also plays.

Erakor is coached by Willie Jacob who has coached teams of youths from Port Vila’s Amical FC Club. Last year, he also trained Tusker Futsall Club and the “Westtan Verts” FC club in Port Vila.

Jacob singled out Tony Kaltack, Jacky Ruben and Yvanah Kasso as key components of the Erakor machine.

Kaltack is a two footed offensive midfielder, while Ruben is a central defender and Kasso a midfielder who finished second in a national juggling competition.

The Erakor Village has been among the first villages to play football in Vanuatu around 1930. Today, Erakor’s club plays in the First League within the Port Vila Association Championship.  They won three times in Port Vila before Tafea FC dominated the domestic scene.

Erakor – Vanuatu

1. Kerry Kaltang
2. Tony Kaltack
3. Tonly Kalotang
4. Remy Kalsarap
5. Yvanah Kassou
6. Kenneth Godshem
7. Erickan Kalonuk
8. Kaltsev Kaltack
9. Menita Tasaruru

The Ba Under 12 side defeated Rewa 2-0 over the weekend to capture the Fiji Football Association Under-12 title yesterday.

However no decision has been made as to which team will fly Fiji's flag at the OFC U’12 Football Festival in New Caledonia next month.

The Ba side proved too powerful for the southerners winning the two day tournament on its home soil.

In the semi finals Ba edged out Nadroga 1-0 while Rewa defeated Navua 1-0.

Fiji FA development officer Farouk Janeman said the tournament was a success and he was impressed by the great enthusiasm shown by the young players.

Janeman said for the first time female players participated in the tournament.

"This will serve as the qualifying tournament for the FIFA World U’12 Championship in France later this year," the former national rep said.

The Fiji FA is expected to kick off its junior competitions in June.

Janeman said plans are in place to make the junior competitions a part of the Fiji FA annual calendar.

He admitted that the one off tournaments will not help develop the sport.

"What we need is an ongoing program," Janeman said.

"I have already submitted the proposal to the Fiji FA in regards to a structured competition for the junior level. The plan is to have competitions in the U12, U13, U15 and U17 category."

"The competition will be held in a league format throughout the year.

The district associations need to adopt this structure. It is important to have junior competition in all districts so that the development of the sport is uniform around the country."

The laughter, fun, culture and football is coming to Stade Pentecost and Stade Numa Daly as the 3rd edition of the OFC Youth Festival gears up for the biggest and best event yet. Teams from around Oceania will gather in Noumea in a spirit of peace and cultural understanding at a football tournament where winning isn’t the most important element.

OFC has run this successful under 12 tournament since 2006 and the 2008 edition promises to be even more exciting with the Christian Karembeu Jubilee match taking place at Stade Numa Daly with the OFC Youth Festival Final providing a thrilling curtain raiser to the main event!

www.oceaniafootball.com will bring you all the fun and action from Noumea as the children of Oceania live their dreams and meet their football heroes in a celebration of this region’s blossoming youth.

One of the participating teams is Waikato Bay of Plenty who are coached under the guidance of Peter Smith.

Waikato Bay of Plenty Football was formed in 1999 and is one of the seven football federations in New Zealand.

 It is the third northernmost federation in New Zealand and covers the area south of the Bombay hills, down to Taumarunui and across to Opotiki.

The U12 team involved in the prestigious 2008 Oceania U12 Youth Festival commenced training in February.

 In 2007 all players in the team played in an internal federation competition where they trained regularly and competed in tournaments and friendly fixtures.

Team manager Cam Mitchell is the Waikato Bay of Plenty Football Operations Manager and has previously been involved in the Oceania Youth Festival. He was part of the United Soccer 1 management team at last years festival in Papua New Guinea, having previously been involved with the inaugural tournament winning team that represented Oceania credibly at the 2006 Danone Nations Cup in Lyon, France.

The head coach Peter Smith originates from Scotland and has previously worked as a youth coach at Scottish premier league club Dundee United. Having relocated to New Zealand in 2005, Peter is currently employed by Waikato Bay of Plenty Football as a football develop officer, which enables him to up skill coaches and players from clubs and schools throughout the federation.

Three teams from Vanuatu - Abuanga, Erakor and Imaki will represent their island at the tournament and provide their squad with some memories they will never forget.

Waikato Bay of Plenty

1. Scott Mickelson
2. Jack Boyle
3. Kieran Dallas
4. Jordan Ramsden
5. Stefan Krystman
6. Anthony Riley
7. Henry Crayton
8. Reid Drake
9. Tessa Leong
10. Andrew Blake
11. Nathan Kinney
12. Alexis Koopu
13. Connor Smith
14. Ryan Watson
 

Abuanga – Vanuatu

1. Tahi Tagaro (gk)
2. Kege Tagaro
3. Coldrige Loli
4. Knox Leo
5. Philip Wai
6. Viniana Tobibi (female)
7. Obed Gaina
8. Creamon Hungai
9. Goergten Tahi
10. Mathias Rihai
11. Wicliff Sogari
12. Rebu Rau
13. Samuel Vuraina
14. Steward Siro

Erakor – Vanuatu

1. Kerry Kaltang
2. Tony Kaltack
3. Tonly Kalotang
4. Remy Kalsarap
5. Yvanah Kassou
6. Kenneth Godshem
7. Erickan Kalonuk
8. Kaltsev Kaltack
9. Menita Tasaruru
10. Jason Thomas
11. Jacky Ruben
12. Remy Filix
13. Dello Ruben
14. Hendry Harrison

Imaki – Vanuatu

1. Hyppolite Namu Nako
2. Alfred Nawrai
3. Charley Yapus
4. Alex Kapara
5. Alfred Kapara
6. Donald Napat
7. Norbert Kuau
8. Diana Nawarau
9. Xavier Yapus
10. Hurbain-Rene Mabi
11. Dolores Noar
12. Pedro Menesu
13. Ruben Kanawi
14. Avock Kuau

AUCKLAND - The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) U-12 Festival of Football has undergone a revamp and namechange for the third edition of the popular competition and will now be called the OFC Youth Festival to illustrate the cultural and educational element of the tournament.

Fiji hosted the first ever OFC Youth Festival back in 2006 with under twelve boys teams playing football at Churchill Park, Lautoka, and experiencing the cultures and language of the hosts and fellow participants. The relationships and friendships built would be one of the enduring memories of the competition as local schools "adopted" a visiting team for the duration of the tournament.

Visiting teams were welcomed by local schools and cultural exchanges were made including song and dance indicative of the part of Oceania each respective team came from.

On the pitch the action was intense but the spirit of Fair Play prevailed as the teams competed for the right to go to the Danone Nations Cup at the Stade Gerland, Lyon, France, 2006. New Zealand team United Soccer 1 won the OFC U-12 Festival of Football and took part in the then 32 team format in France playing teams from France and South Africa to name but two.

In 2007 it was Papua New Guinea's turn to host the tournament thanks to help from the French Government and its France Co-Operation programme. The French Ambassador to Papua New Guinea Mr. Patrick Boursin signed an historic Memorandum of Understanding with OFC to provide funding that offset the costs involved for teams travelling to Port Moresby.

On the pitch it was Saint Joseph's School from Port Vila that prevailed at the OFC U-12 Festival of Football - Port Moresby 2007 with New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and New Zealand all finishing hot on their heels. Vanuatu's adventure continued at the Danone Nations Cup where it finished 20th out of 40 competing teams including wins over Germany and Switzerland.

This year's OFC Youth Festival cultural component begins on May 28th, 2008 with the football tournament kick-off scheduled for May 29th. The tournament concludes at Stade Numa Daly on May 31st as a curtain raiser event to the Christian Karembeu XI vs. France '98 XI match featuring such wonderful names as Lifou-born FIFA World Cup winner Christian Karembeu, Zinedine Zidane and Fabien Barthez amongst others.

FIFA President Joesph S. Blatter will be attendance after inaugurating the New Caledonia Goal Project at Paita earlier that day capping off an exciting star-studded day for the Oceanian youngsters.

The OFC Congress is scheduled for June 1st, 2008.

Four players from "Les Cagous" at Ward Strip School, Port Moresby, 2007.

Hundreds of youngsters sit patiently awaiting the arrival of the Solomon Islands team in Port Moresby

The cover of last year's tournament programme featuring smiling faces from the OFC U-12 Festival in Fiji 2006

OFC President/FIFA Vice-President Reynald Temarii watches on as Solomon Islands team arrives

School children at Port Moresby Stadium celebrate a goal

New Caledonia and Vanuatu share the adulation of 8,000 fans on the final match day last year

CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING: A young girl from Papua New Guinea in traditional garb welcomes the teams

OFC Media interview a New Caledonia player during the educational element of the tournament in Port Moresby