OFC Nations Cup 2016 - vs Fiji | Sat 28 May | 6pm | SS Popup

Only two? And one was made by his assistant which he had to go with.

I'd say that the referee was the best performer on the pitch - easily.

I think he was talking about the assistant

That was a hard watch.

But with a fudgeed squad, and a fudgeed administration - I'll take the win, I'll flush the dunny, and I'll move on.

More info on Frank's absence

Wow. Amateur-hour on all sides. What was he doing without a visa? What were OFC, Fiji football federation/association/whatever-they-call-it doing not getting him a visa and why o why does this make me think that this is so quintessentially NZF that I am shocked it was Fiji on the wrong end of it.

No, but you'd think they'd help. At least let him know he might need one.

Isn't that really his responsibility? - it's not like it hasn't happened to him before. 

What OFC \ Fiji FA should have been doing was working with the PNG authorities to get it sorted so he didn't have to fly back to Fiji to come back a couple of days later

I work for a British Airline... I'm only an aircraft engineer but when said airline sends me to some African or Asian backwards place they sort out my visas.  I'm sure Frank was expecting Fiji/PNG/OFC to do this as its his employers who need him there.  He's not going for a holiday after all...

Again more reasons for us to get out of this tin-pot confederation.

I don't see how you can blame the OFC for this. It is completely on Farina/PNG Fiji.

Edit: Thanks Ryan.

The OFC should have at least checked if every player and coach had their own visa.

I also just don't get it. I did some research in PNG a few years back. I thought, I need to see what visa I should get. I looked on their website and figured it out. Then I went to the embassy and did the paperwork. It was simple. I can't see how it would be difficult or confusing.

National sports organisations should be all over this stuff. Teams fly to other countries all the time.

Maybe because they care about the image of their competition and every team being able to field their full team and have their coach? I know is responsibilty from the Fiji FA from the first place but someone in the OFC should have cared enough to at least check.

Oops, thats the one.

Why?  Is it the OFC's fault we played ineligible players at the U23's? Should they have checked everyone's eligibility first?

Sorry, but I just can't see why the OFC would think they should have to do that. It's just not their responsibility to ensure the teams make it. It would be like them asking if each team remembered to pack their uniforms.

I travel a fair bit for work. Generally our receptionist makes arrangements and does bookings for me. I always check they are in order and if wrong , I do not blame the client or organisation I am going to see.

I don't see the relation between eligibility and visa. And actually yes, they checked when Vanuatu complained, that's why we were disqualifed. But that's a whole different thing.
I'm not saying is not Farina's and Fiji's fault, but the OFC could have done something.

There are 8 teams in the competition and each will have 30-40 traveling in their party so do you think OFC should be doing Visa checks on 2-300 people? They'd need to employ someone just for this

What OFC should have done is work with the PNG authorities when the issue came up.

Given the same issue happened to Farina when he went to Brazil (He couldn't get there as he went via Argentina and didn't have a transit visa) you would have thought that he himself and the Fiji FA would have flagged this up to check before they went

This is not an OFC problem. This is also not the 1st time an OFC tournament has been held either so National associations should know to go through this as part of the process.

OFC perhaps could have said as part of their process (and may well have done so I am speculating) 'Hey don't forget when going to PNG, it is your responsibility to ensure your travel visas are all sorted for arrival into PNG for all players and staff'

To me, this is just more of the same for the football in this part of the world.

I see he's about to be more popular soon, Stuff article today's says the Euro's are on the Pop Up Channels