IDC in the bag
The picture of an emotional Dennis Ifunaoa being carried by a Labasa fan in yesterday’s The Fiji Times was a hit as emotions were high after the IDC win.
Labasa fans showed why they are the best as they painted Prince Charles Park red.
The amount of noise made and the vibration coming from the musical instruments made the players and fans feel they were at the iconic Subrail Park.
The Lions created history by winning back-to-back soccer tournaments on Western soil.
They won the Inkk BOG at Churchill Park defeating the hosts (1-0) and the victory tasted better as the Lions beat the Nadi (5-0) in the semis.
Labasa no doubt was the best team and as soccer pundits say, the best team wins.
I compliment the team president Mr Rayaz, who is soft-spoken and prefers not to be in the limelight, for building a solid team.
It’s not easy to run a team and Rayaz knows the sacrifices he makes as the captain of the boat.
I thank the coach master Ronil Lal for guiding the Lions to two tournament wins.
I accord a big vinaka vakalevu to the team manager Nilesh Lal for his leadership in looking after the boys in camp.
I salute the sponsor Suntek Fiji Ltd for coming out to assist the Lions.
Hearty thanks to all the officials and sponsors and the biggest applause to the players — Akuila, Dan, Lino, Lekima, Akeimi, Ravi, Raju, Lolaivalu, Siti, Logaivou, Dennis, Melvin, Nayasi, Inia, Kubu, Qase, Bimal, Jacob, Kirtesh, Nemani, Asaeli, and the player of the tournament Tuivuna.
Finally, I acknowledge the support of the travelling Labasa fans for their voice made that difference.
Labasa’s win is historic and memorable and I urge the fans to savour this moment and learn to stand by the team during the rainy days.
As I conclude, congratulations Babasiga Lions and thank you so much for doing the North proud!
To The Fiji Times thank you for all the coverage and the colourful picture of the winning team in Goal Fiji!
To Raymond Stoddart, thank you for the live commentaries!
Rajnesh Ishwar Lingam, Nadawa, Nasinu
Missing children
For such a small country as ours, how can 37 kids go missing and never get found?
The Minister for Defence, National Security and Foreign Affairs, Inia Seruiratu, explained that children go missing because they do not get adequate support or attention from home (FT 15/10).
At present, no one knows where they are, so there is a strong possibility that some of them could be dead?
Who knows, a serial child killer could be on the loose?
Murder is becoming more regular these days.
One wonders how the authorities would react if these missing children belonged to any of our current parliamentarians or officers in the police force?
I’m sure extra effort and funds would be provided and the kids will be found.
Instead of wasting money and time chasing and jailing citizens over the use of a natural plant, spend that time and money finding these missing children.
Our priorities are definitely messed up!
Simon Hazelman, Rava Estate, Savusavu
Family structure
Former First Lady Barbara Bush once said, “Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House, but on what happens inside your house.”
This reaffirms what we already know: that the foundation and cornerstone of society is the family at home.
No global treaty emanating from the UN and EU that take away parenting rights and responsibilities will diminish the veracity of this truism.
Spare the rod and spoil the child is an age-old adage in existence well before the UN and EU were a glint in their sponsors eye.
And the hook-line-and-sinker acceptance of the diktats of the UN and EU bureaucrats without any regard to local traditions and culture by the government indicate an inclination on appeasing some people and ignoring the most important stakeholder, parents, who are their electorates.
Some things out of UN and EU are OK such as highlighting and exposing domestic violence, but for government officialdom to take over parenting just because they pay some of the bills is to forget where funds for those bills come from anyway.
Parents should be restored their right to discipline their own children and teachers their right to throw students off their classroom if these children are habitually disruptive and ill-disciplined.
If government cannot even manage the economy, then I do not want them anywhere near having a say on how I should discipline my children.
Parents should strive to give well-behaved children to teachers to teach and inform, not straddle them with unruly and ill-disciplined ones.
Give back to parents their God-given rights, and to teachers their classrooms, and to government the opportunity to figure out how to patch the $1bn black hole.
Why is this commonsense approach so hard to organise around?
Mareko Vuli, Wainibuku Rd, Nakasi
Clarify interest
Could the PIB clarify if the 12 per cent interest which the moneylenders should charge is for one year?
Sukha Singh, Labasa
National issues
Of all the national issues which have surfaced, many can be solved through sheer parental influence.
Mohammed Imraz Janif, Natabua, Lautoka
Road condition
We used to laugh when we spotted a letter on potholes, etc., on Fiji roads.
But last week we spent several days in Suva and can say the road condition is nothing to laugh about.
Have never seen it in such an appalling state in my entire life.
It’s a Fiji first!
Rajend Naidu, Sydney, Australia
Wrong paper
If the one and half century witness of Fijian history is considered to be the “wrong paper”, what should be the contents of the right paper?
Mohammed Imraz Janif, Natabua, Lautoka
Clean-up issue
The clean-up in Lautoka was supposed to be over last weekend, according to the flyers distributed by the Lautoka City Council.
It just shows that Lautoka City Council cannot do work on time.
Almost half of the city area has not been cleaned yet and some people have started to burn the decaying rubbish.
Can the new special administration team please get outside contractors to clean-up.
Some of these LCC workers remind me of old PWD workers.
Amol Kumar, Lautoka
How pathetic
I note that Commissioner Qiliho declined to answer questions from a Times reporter as the reporter was from the “wrong paper”.
How pathetic.
Next time I suggest the reporter takes along a roll of toilet paper, asks the questions and see what the reaction is.
Allan Loosley, Tavua
The weather
I get confused by the different weather forecasts we get by two organisations that are experts in the field.
The weather currently being experienced in the West has been interpreted basically at nuisance levels by one, and significantly nasty by the other.
One has to assume that both organisations rely on the same data from radars, satellite images etc. much of which are available to amateurs like me online.
How come such interpretation differences crop up?
One thing I am sure of is the FSC will use the bad weather as an excuse for low production in the next week or so.
However, a silver lining might be that the pyromaniac canefarmers deliver green cane for a while.
Allan Loosley, Tavua
Flying Fijians
The following appeared on a photo taken with the 2019 RWC Flying Fijians team at the Oita Stadium in Japan: Geoff Webster (FRU general manager), John McKee (head coach), Tabai Matson (senior assistant coach), Alan Muir (assistant coach), Neil Barnes (assistant coach), Willie Baleinabuli (team manager), Josh Vuto (video analyst), John Batina (performance analyst), John Pryor (head of strength and conditioning coach), Hiroaki Nitta (assistant strength and conditioning coach), Damien March (head of athletic performance), doctor Bryan Savil, and David Bick (physiotherapist).
Boy oh boy!
Finally, after the 2019 RWC, let’s look at Fiji’s performance at all RWCs: 1987 eliminated in quarters; 1991 eliminated in pool stage; 1995 Fiji did not qualify; 1999 eliminated in the quarter-final play-offs; 2003 eliminated in pool stage; 2007 eliminated in quarters; 2011 and 2015 eliminated in pool stage; Japan 2019 — our best prepared team (as claimed by rugby experts) eliminated in pool stage.
Wow!
Rajnesh Ishwar Lingam, Nadawa, Nasinu
Japan rugby
Japan on one hand is suffering from the devastation of the natural disaster on the other they are celebrating their conquests in the Rugby World Cup 2019.
They are resilient people and have risen up from the war to become a great industrial nation, they are once again rising up after the thrashings they got from previous world cups.
God bless you Japan.
Allen Lockington, Kava Place, Waiyavi, Lautoka
Quarter-final entry
Congratulations to Japan for being the first Asian country through to the quarter-finals of the RWC which is kind of racist as I would have gone with the only Tier Two nation to make it to the RWC quarters.
Anyhow, as per my previous ramblings, this RWC will go down in history as a game changer where the referee who is always right back in my days or who has the last say is being overruled by the TMO.
One can witness that the rules of the game is adhered to strictly if it’s one of the top nations, for example in the Japan vs Scotland game, the lock forward’s shoulder clearly came into contact with the head of the Japanese hooker but was not even carded, rewind the tape a few games and the same scenario where the Argentine lock forward’s shoulder made contact with the captain of the English team and they got a red card.
Or better yet the tipping tackle on Mata in the game against Wales, and we can write a whole page on this, but the crux of the matter is our bigwigs in the white house need to step up their game and push for more game time with Tier One nations as the director of Pacific Players Welfare Danny Leo said “Fiji has outgrown the PNC, and needs to be included in the SANZAR or Six nations competitions”.
Only then can we move forward, because as evident in our last match of the inexperience of our half and first five combination in not playing regular matches in those positions in high-level competitions unlike the combination in 2007.
So please people stop downtreading our players but let’s continue to support them, as I’ve said from the beginning, this is our team, let’s take ownership of it in good times and bad.
Anyway good luck to the Cherry Blossoms in their quarter-final match and thank you to Long John and team and Dom and the boys for your effort.
Lawrence Wara, Santa Rosa, USA
