WEEKLY competition in the Fiji Football Association’s under-16 boys youth league matches in Suva yesterday were delayed due to the late arrival of referees.
The matches were scheduled to begin at 10am however when a team from this newspaper reached the Fiji FA Academy grounds in Vatuwaqa, they were told that games hadn’t started.
Players already dressed in full gear were seen on the grounds as they waited for referees to arrive so competition could commence.
The manager of the Rewa under-16 boys side, Umesh Narayan, expressed his concerns.
According to him, they were informed that competition would begin at 11.30am.
“The major concern is the boys are giving their commitment, the kids are all under 16 and looking at their welfare, they did their warm-up in the rainy weather and now they are just sitting idle,” Narayan lamented.
His side had faced Northland Tailevu yesterday.
He added the same incident had taken place during league matches held at Manoca, Nausori a few weeks ago and called on Fiji FA to look into the matter.
“So we asked Fiji Football (Association) to look into this so it cannot be repeated because it is also tarnishing the image of Fiji football,” he urged.
When contacted for comment, Fiji FA CEO Mohammed Yusuf confirmed the turn of events and said appropriate action would be taken.
“The appointed referees did not turn up on time so they had to look for replacement referees to continue the game.
“So we’ll be taking action against those referees,” Yusuf said.
“Once they don’t show up, they bring disrepute to Fiji Football.”
