Fijian referee Finau Vulivuli was joined by assistants Jacqui Stephenson (New Zealand) and Lata Tuifutuna (Tonga) as the OFC match official trio took charge of a Group A clash between Canada and Nigeria.
It marked the first time an OFC trio from outside Australia – a former OFC member now part of the Asian Football Confederation – has ever controlled a FIFA Women’s World Cup match.
Vulivuli and her assistants refereed the action as Nigeria caused a major upset by winning 1-0 to secure their first World Cup victory since 1999.
The Savusavu-based school teacher was kept on her toes throughout the action-packed encounter and had an unusual situation to deal with when the floodlights failed at the Rudolf Harbig Stadion with just under 20 minutes to go.
That led to a delay of around ten minutes and the calm actions of Vulivuli were needed to keep the players emotions in check while the problem was fixed.
Nigeria appeared to have reacted best to the break in play and scored what proved to be the winner in the 84th minute through Perpetua Nkwocha.
There was still time for star Canadian striker Christine Sinclair to be denied by the outstretched leg of goalkeeper Precious Dede but it was to be Nigeria’s night and they held on throughout a lengthy period of stoppage time.
Aside from the floodlight failure, Vulivuli and her assistants had no other major incidents to deal with during the free-flowing game, the referee having to go to her pocket only once to dish out a yellow card to Nigeria’s Onome Ebi in the 59th minute.
Vulivuli was called into action for the first time in Germany on June 29 to act as fourth official during Norway’s 1-0 Group D win over Equatorial Guinea and performed the same role on July 2 when Sweden beat Korea DPR by the same scoreline in Group C.
She had previously taken part in other prestigious events such as the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and the Algarve Cup but, as was the case with Stephenson and Tuifutuna, had yet to be involved in a senior World Cup prior to arriving in Germany.
“It is an honour to represent Fiji in Germany,” she says. “I have officiated at world-class events before but this is the big one because the world’s top teams are participating.”
Kiwi Stephenson, who has previously run the line for games at two FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cups, hopes the example set by the trio at Germany 2011 will inspire more females to pick up the whistle and flag.
“The World Cup is the pinnacle and, for me, this opportunity is the culmination of four years of hard work, both physically and mentally, and a lot of sacrifice,” the mother-of-two says.
“I’d like to think it might encourage more women to try refereeing knowing there is a pathway to reach big events.”
The involvement of the OFC trio in Germany 2011 is the latest positive result of the Refereeing Assistance Programme (RAP).
OFC places great importance on developing world-class referees and this has been strongly supported by FIFA through its funding of the programme.
Under the supervision of referee development officer Massimo Raveino, referee instructor Neil Poloso and fitness trainer Kader Touati, the programme is helping to create a more organised, professional approach to refereeing in the Pacific.