Oly-whites (the Olympic campaign)

How do we know that, is there TV footage somewhere ?

buffy .....      his feelings!!

Feelings meh, all we have is one line saying a ball defelcted off Old and it wrong footed spoonley.  That doesn't sound to me like he volleyed it in to the net from 6 yards out.

Old to partner Smeltz upfront

You don't seem to get it NP. Island refs are horrendous.

...plus this is the worst prepared of any side we've sent to a tournament in two years.  The U-20's and U-17's both toured all over the place and acclimatised, plus the U-20's qualified at home.  This sode got together the week before and were only named a fortnight before.

That Fijian side have been playing as the National side lately to give them a huge amount of time together and have been in camps on and off for over 6 months.

Plus, as Buffy says, the island officials are at best incompetent, at worst...

Very good win! Cant comment on the game as havent seen it but over there its all about results although it did sound like we got a tad lucky but you need that sometimes! Solomans will be a tougher test though looking forward to that game wish It was on TV

Hi there

Its been useful reading the feedback on this forum regarding the OFC Olympic Football Qualifying tournament...thanks very much - negative and positive comments - its enlightening and hopefully we can try and make improvements as we go along.

The technology behind delivering the text updates on the OFC website may seem easy to those surfing in from around Oceania and the world...on the ground in Lautoka its actually much tougher!

At present we operate with one dedicated media officer, a laptop and a vodem.

As well as delivering the text updates the media officer is responsible for distributing starts lists, coordinating media requests, managing photographers, writing the updates, media releases, liasing with local television and foreign radio from around the region...

If the internet drops out - and in the islands it does so on a regular basis - you can be stuck with having to reboot the laptop, answer queries, address issues for radio, television or print media - even the local organising committee.

All sorts of things can occur - an update can be lost and have to be retyped under pressure; with the afternoon rain we're experiencing even the keyboard can be exposed to wet weather which isn't good for it.

Spelling errors often occur because the person providing the update is also trying to do four or five other jobs...the media officer is in touch with the fourth officials desk as is generally practised at all FIFA tournaments to confirm cautions, red cards, goals, substitutions, minutes of events, time added on, etc etc.

Batteries in walkie-talkies can fail, mobile phone connections can drop out - any number of challenges can arise and, for the most part, these are met successfully.

OFC has provided text updates for XIII South Pacific Games, OFC O-League and OFC Mens Olympic Football tournament and the concept is based on the www.bbc.co.uk format as closely as possible.

Its an enjoyable feature of the media officer's job but exceptionally stressful when things go wrong. Moderating the message boards is another feature and swearing, bigotry and other offensive comments have to be removed...we can get anywhere up to 100 or comments for the bigger matches.

There is radio coverage available from Radio Sagaram and www.fm107radiovanuatu.com

Television coverage through Fiji TV is available in Fiji with highlights packages made available to ALL broadcasters in the Oceania region.

Not all stations have taken up this offer because only one camera is in use and because the commentary does not meet standards of quality in certain countries.

OFC and Fiji TV worked very hard to try to bring coverage of the tournament to fans at a cost effective price - Fiji TV deserve special praise.

I am told Sky TV turned down Fiji TV's offer which was disappointing for fans in New Zealand.

Coverage of the tournament will be provided to Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands television stations where football is the number one sport, or close to it.

The OFC Women's Olympic Football tournament will be screened live in Papua New Guinea and distributed to Fiji TV for broadcast in a delayed signal for its Sky Pacific customers. I'm not certain if Sky TV has picked this up or not for New Zealand fans.

Its important to distinguish between where television is at in New Zealand and the rest of the pacific for fairness and balance.

Some countries - Solomon Islands, for example - is relatively new to television, its only been around for a couple of years and so its a process of development.

For those of you at home with a host of decoders and a decade of pay television at least under your belt, it is difficult to conceptualise, perhaps, just how well these types of stations do to cover football matches.

Fiji TV broadcast the Fiji vs. New Zealand match on Fiji 1 at lunchtime today and considering there was only one camera in use, the results were very pleasing.

One News Limited Solomon Islands broadcast Kossa vs. Ba delayed from Lawson Tama Stadium in front of 12,000 fans using a three camera team that then worked around the clock to cut and edit the footage into a 90 minute match.

With no switcher, One News Limited SI did an excellent job of the final cut - they really punched above their weight.

If you consider how the African Cup of Nations has evolved over the past 20 years in terms of its television coverage, then what is taking place in terms of media, television and football in Oceania seems to be on the right track.

French television stations such as Canal France International (CFI) have a tremendous relationship with OFC in helping develop the region's television stations and using football as an education tool to assist this programme.

CFI has played a key role in African television and football and its hoped that something similar can be replicated in Oceania.

Sure, the commentary might not be Martin Tyler, sure, the camera work may not be a 40 camera FIFA World Cup extravaganza, but rather more importantly football is on screens around Oceania...and the fans are still coming to the matches...television rather enhances the popularity of the code rather than present it with insurmountable challenges.

In western countries we forget the impact of foreign leagues on pay television and how the domestic quality of our local fare pales by comparison to the exotic skills and thrills on offer in Europe or South America.

7 or 8000 will take in a New World National League match in Fiji and 17000 will attend an OFC O-League match in Honiara.

My motivation for writing to the forum was to just give some idea of where coverage of this OFC tournament was at as much to enlighten as to receive criticism and on the slim chance, positive feedback.

It remains to be seen whether I will dare to do so again, but I hope regular visitors to this forum will feel they've gained some benefit from reading this posting.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy our text updates on Match Day 2 tomorrow (today) and invite you to contact me with any questions you may have.

I probably won't reply on Yellow Fever but I will happily answer queries by phone or at the email address provided below where and where I can.

Oh, I nearly forgot, for fans not enamoured by our internet text updates, try this link:

http://www.fijivillage.com/radiosargam/

Its a subscription based radio broadcast (I'm not certain what the charges are - sorry) and you could try tuning in to Raymond Stoddart and his team at Radio Fiji.

Kind regards,

Gordon Glen Watson
OFC Media and Communications Officer
+64 21 994 520
gordonglenwatson@hotmail.com GGW19722008-03-02 22:35:42

As always Gordy, superb.

Thanks for the effort and good luck (I know you'll need it).

cheers GGW for the background, as you say great crowd numbers!

Thanks for the updates GGW. Has anyone tried to listen online at http://www.fm107vanuatu.com/ ? I have had no luck. This could be the place to go when we play Vanuatu. Might not be in english though.

Hi again from Lautoka,

I have a meeting this morning with another Vanuatu radio station and we are discussing the installation of a another phone line to cope with demand for radio commentary.

Naturally, radio stations from each country want to cover their games. Vanuatu commentary tends to be broadcast in Bislama and/or French/English.

Moses Stevens is an English speaker, however, so stay tuned, you may be in luck for the big game tonight.

Its another humid day in Lautoka and I would expect there to be thunder storms tonight judging by our experiences here so far.

I urge you to visit www.oceaniafootball.com for our text updates and photographs where possible.

Regards,

Gordon Glen Watson
OFC Media and Communications Officer
gordonglenwatson@hotmail.com
+64 21 994 520

Nobody on this thread!!!!  Disgraceful!!!!  11 minutes gone.  0-0.  Vanuatu looking strong.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who has misheard that name I'm back from the gym now so I'm tuning in to see if the Oly-Whites give me a victory over Vanuatu for my birthday!

Costa!!!!!!

hi Stevo., Happy birthday Robb!

Youngheart 0-1 Nz.

Happy Birthday Robbo.

Lads, link me to Gordy and Master Holloway's text updates please...

Thanks Stevo.

How bad are the text comments ?

I remember reading the ones when the AW's played up there and they were disgraceful.

Cheers lads - Costa's gotten me the present, let's hope the rest of the team can gift wrap it 

I wouldn't write off the Solomon's lads. That's a good squad.  What on earth has happened to Hendo, he barely makes 45 minutes in an All Whites shirt.

The Fijian game last year the comments were pretty offensive
Hard News2008-03-03 21:04:52

Well it's no more than we dish out really.

Costa carving up....

Yes, can confirm.

Can also confirm that the Oceania refs strike again as Dan Keat and a Vanuatan have both seen red.

ha ha - finally got the updates from the OFC site going. first time i refresh TWO red cards

Costa!!!!

Costa... 2-0

Brockie scored. 

beat six players, drank a pint and smashed it home from 60 yards

this game is a cracker

hopefully Keats suspension wil have been served before the Solomon's match

Pidgin... makes more sense than some of the text speak on here...