This email went out to international players today:
Dear [player]
As you will be aware, New Zealand Football’s Men’s Olympic team was disqualified from a tournament in Papua New Guinea last weekend, as a result of alleged discrepancies in the eligibility criteria of one of the players.
On behalf of everyone at New Zealand Football, I would like to apologise for the stress and concern that this difficult situation has caused the team, management, families and the wider football community.
Our focus right now is two-fold. With the support of our legal advisors we are working hard to better understand the issues around and potential impact of the disqualification of our Men’s Olympic team. Playing a qualifying tournament within another event (in this case the Pacific Games), has meant considerable confusion, which we believe had been clarified in advance of the event. However, it now seems this was not the case.
Over the next few days we will, with the support of our Board, consider our options, including our right of appeal to overturn what we consider a very harsh decision.
At the same time, we are reviewing all of our internal processes and eligibility information to ensure we do not put ourselves in a position where this could happen again. This includes a review of the information we hold on individual players, to ensure all players meet the criteria set out in our National Talent Centre parents and players pack.
If additional information is required from you, Rob Pickstock will soon be in contact. Rob will let you know what we need, and how to go about submitting this additional information to our online registration system. To those of you affected, thank you in advance for your help with this.
As you know, we have been working hard since early 2014 to build a better professional football operation in New Zealand, to support our shared ambition to qualify for and win at World Cup events on a regular basis. While we have made some great progress - evidenced by our Football Ferns and U20 Men making history at their recent World Cups - we still have a long way to go. This week has shown us that we have work to do to ensure that the right processes and systems are in place to protect us from challenges such as this. I want to assure you that we will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to achieve this.
If you have any questions at all please contact Rob [tel:021 APPEALME] or Steven Upfold, Communications Manager [tel:021 SUEME]. We will keep you up-to-date on developments and are here to provide any other help or support you need. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.
We are staunchly focused on our goals and want to assure you that you, our players, remain our top priority.
Yours sincerely,
Andy
Andy Martin – Chief Executive Officer