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Abstract
We use theories from the philosophy of sport literature to contextualize and make conclusions in relation to two famous matches in Fiji’s soccer history: the 1982 Inter-District Championship Final between Ba and Nadi and the 1988 World Cup Qualifier between Australia and Fiji. In relation to the first game, Nadi and Ba officials made a gentlemen’s agreement not to accept Fiji Football Association’s decision to host the final replay in the neutral venue of Lautoka instead of the original venue of Nadi and then Ba reneged on that agreement. We conclude that, based on the philosophical treatment of fair play as equal to respect for the game, Fiji FA was within its rights to host the replay in Lautoka and Nadi should have turned up to play on the day. In the second game, we argue that Fiji was the better team on the day, in its 1–0 win over Australia, and so the victory was neither hollow nor undeserved. However, during that era, Australia was the better team overall as it won the majority of games played between the two nations.
Public interest statement
This article focuses on Fiji soccer history, 1980–1989, which is a topic which has drawn very little scholarly attention up until now. People are familiar with a country which has been remarkably successful in 7s rugby and, to a lesser extent, 15s rugby, over the last 30 years. However, what is less known is that Fiji had a strong soccer team during the 1980s. The national team beat New Zealand and Australia and conclusively swamped elite visitors Newcastle United 3–0 in a 1985 friendly. The passion for the game, especially among the 330,000-strong Fiji-Indian community, is very high although conspicuous consumption on merchandise is absent. The article reviews two famous games: the 1982 (domestic) IDC Final between Ba and Nadi and the 1–0 win over Australia in 1988. Interviews with ex-players are a highlight of the work. We hope that the reader is able to experience the unique atmosphere of the remote Fiji islands and the struggle to build a sport.
Notes
1. Fiji-Indian emigres living in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States’ continued interest in and affection for Fiji soccer (as also evidenced by teams and associations forming in those countries using the names of Fiji teams) might surprise people. However, it achieves a similar purpose which popular music can achieve (according to George Lipsitz), i.e. it “plays an important role in building solidarity within and across immigrant communities” (Lipsitz, Citation1994, p. 126) in the face of “racial exclusion and intolerance” (Bennett, Citation2005, p. 336).
2. Although essentially an amateur game in the 1980s, Fiji soccer historian Mohit Prasad claims that the game could be called “semi-professional” by 1999 (Prasad, Citation2013, pp. 100, 165). By that year, the managers (coaches in Australian and American parlance) of all eight national-league teams had paid positions even though some of them were part-time.
3. Across the country as a whole, in 2016, the ethnic make-up of Fiji was as follows: Indigenous Fijians 56.8%, Fiji-Indians 37.5%, Rotumans 1.2%, and Others 4.5% including Europeans, part-Europeans, other Pacific Islanders, and Chinese (source: CIA World Fact Book, 2016). Most Fiji-Indians are descendants of the indentured labourers brought from India to Fiji by the British between 1879 and 1916 to work on the sugar-cane plantations. For a history of the Sikhs in Fiji see Gajraj Singh (Citationn.d.). For a history of the Chinese in Fiji see Ali (Citation2002).
4. For coup-leader Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka’s worldview and justification for the 1987 coups see Eddie Dean and Stan Ritova’s Rabuka: No other way (Dean & Ritova, Citation1988).
5. Population figures are 2018 estimated figures sourced from the following website: http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/fiji-population/.
6. Source: http://www.rsssf.com/tablesn/nz-intres-det80.html .
7. Sources for 17 November (versus New Zealand) and 19 November 1988 (versus New Zealand) match results: Prasad (Citation2013), p. 116; http://www.rsssf.com/tablesn/nz-intres-det80.html .
8. Lautoka Blues dominated the competition during its (Lautoka’s) glory years, 1938–1959. Since then it has only recaptured its brilliance in short spurts such as the 1984–1985 team (Prasad, Citation2013, p. 103). Henry Dyer attributes Lautoka’s failure to win further trophies after 1985 (other than the 1988 national-league title) to the uncertainties associated with the 1987 military coups plus Ba’s on-field rebirth as a soccer power at around the same time.
9. Prasad (Citation2013), p. 103.
10. Part-European is the official name given to those of mixed European and other heritage (usually white British and indigenous Fijian) in Fiji censuses and is a left-over category from the days of British colonial rule. It also represents a distinct community today, which still exists somewhat separately from the other communities. At the funeral of an auntie of Henry Dyer, held at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church in Lautoka around 2014, his part-European relatives filled one half of the church building whilst his indigenous Fijian relatives (or those who self-identified that way) congregated in the other half.
11. There were five Sami brothers: Narend (eldest), Sunil, Kamal, Julie, and Vimal (youngest). Of these five, all but Sunil played for Ba while Julie and Vimal also played for Fiji and Kamal for Fiji Youth (sources: author’s interview with Julie Sami, 1 October 2015; Ba Football Association, Citation2012). These Sami brothers should not be confused with the other set of Sami brothers which included Labasa player Anand Sami. From 1974 until 1979 Jagannath (or Jagnnath) represented the Labasa Association national-league team along with his brothers Anand, Gopal, and Abhilasha. Jagannath represented the Fiji national team with brother Anand in 1976. In 2015 Jagannath was back in the news when he emerged as a National Federation Party (NFP) candidate in the 2015 Fiji national elections (source: NFP leaflet, dated 23 July 2014).
12. In that era, IDC games had a regular playing time of only 60 minutes so as to fit more games into a single weekend of fixtures.
13. FFA officials rejected the eccentric compromise idea first put forward by Nadi and Ba that the trophy should be shared by the two teams for six months each, a classic example of pragmatic Fijian culture.
14. The logic here was similar to what would happen if a World Cup Final was tied and there were no penalty shootouts allowed. The replay match would be held in the same city (or at least country) as the original final.
15. S.M. Singh, as he was commonly known, managed the Fiji national team from 1960–1976.
16. Julie Sami says he gave his left-wing position in the Ba and Fiji team to his brother Vimal as he moved down to the sweeper position in the Ba team and, at around the same time, disappeared from the Fiji team line-up.
17. Rewa’s last IDC win, prior to the 2001 victory, was in 1972.
18. Scores and goal-scorers are provided by the Western Australian soccer historian Richard Kreider (Kreider, Citation1996, pp. 172, 181, 188, 190).
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Kieran James
Dr Kieran James is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting at University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. During the period 2013–2015 he was Accounting Professor at University of Fiji, located on the Queen’s Highway between Nadi Town and Lautoka City. This research project began when he met the ex-Nadi and Fiji soccer legend, Henry Dyer, in the now closed Deep Sea Pub in Nadi Town in the first half of calendar year 2014. The broader research project into Fiji soccer history, launched in co-operation with Dyer, involved the writing of Dyer’s memoir and the writing of a handful of academic articles of which this is one. The project also saw Dyer and the author launch the Nadi Legends Club website. Mr Yogesh Nadan is a Lecturer at Fiji National University and a PhD student at University of Fiji. He is an avid fan of Ba’s soccer team in Fiji’s national-league and he lives in Ba Town.
