OFC, Auckland 5 July 2004: The Oceania Football Confederation has appointed an all-island trio of match officials for the upcoming 2004 FIFA Olympic men’s football tournament in Athens, Greece next month.
Tahitian Referee Charles Ariiotima, who replaces the injured Derek Rugg of New Zealand, will be accompanied by Assistant Referees’, Michael Mouauri of the Cook Islands and Tony Meltetamat of Vanuatu.
It will be a special moment for the trio appointed to their first FIFA tournament and the experience will surely be of benefit to them.
The 38 year-old Ariiotima is an experienced referee at Oceania level first receiving his FIFA badge in 2000. Career highlights have been refereeing the 2002 OFC Nations Cup final between Australia and New Zealand and most recently being appointed for the 2004 OFC Nations Cup – Stage 2 tournament in Adelaide last month.
The 35 year-old Meltetamat has been a FIFA assistant referee since 1994 and will relish the opportunity to shine in Athens. He was last active at the 2004 OFC Nations Cup – Stage 2 tournament.
Mouauri, who turns 37 next month, has been on the FIFA list since 1999 and has made giant strides over the past two years. He was selected for the Olympic men’s final playoff between Australia & New Zealand in January was again impressive in Adelaide at the 2004 OFC Nations Cup – Stage 2 tournament.
Joining them in Athens will be an all-Australian female trio, women’s referee Krystyna Szokolai and women’s assistant referees’, Airlie Keen and Jacqueline Leleu, who have been appointed to the FIFA Olympic women’s football tournament. The experienced Australians are not new at this level. Szokolai was appointed to the inaugural FIFA Under 19 Women’s World Championship in Canada in 2002 while Keen and Leleu were both appointed to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the USA last year. The trio were also picked to represent the OFC at the Asian Women’s Olympic Qualifiers in Japan last April.
* In other news, Australian referee Mark Shield and fellow countryman, assistant referee, Nathan Gibson have been jointly appointed by the OFC to represent the confederation at the Asian Cup in China from 17 July – 7 August 2004. The 30 year-old Shield is widely regarded as one of the top rated referees in Oceania with impressive displays at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan and the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup in France. Gibson, 31, was appointed to the FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates last December.
This opportunity is an extension of the joint initiative between the Asian and Oceania confederations through the referees exchange programme which commenced in March when OFC extended an invitation to AFC for Asian match officials to officiate at the OFC Women’s Olympic Qualifiers in Fiji. The OFC was in turn invited back in April to send match officials to the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifiers in Japan.