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Fiji Time: 6:26 PM on Sunday 19 May

/ Front page / Sport

Frustration for Suva

Rashneel Kumar
Monday, May 14, 2012

THE Suva Football Association is disappointed with the manner the Fiji Football Association made the decision to move the Vodafone Fiji FACT to Ba's Govind Park.

Suva FA president Mahen Prasad said the Fiji FA should have made the decision on Saturday rather than yesterday.

He said following the announcement of the indefinite postponement of the remaining Fiji FACT matches, the team broke camp assuming it would be held next weekend.

However, the Fiji FA's Board of Control met yesterday and decided to shift the tournament to Ba.

Fiji FA chief executive officer Bob Kumar said the remainder of the tournament would be played from this Friday to Sunday.

Kumar said the unavailability of Ratu Cakobau Park and Churchill Park this weekend forced them to move the tournament to the soccer crazy town.

"We disagree with Fiji FA's decision. The team broke camp after the announcement on Saturday as we thought the tournament will not be held next weekend (this weekend)," Prasad said.

"The Fiji FA should have made that decision on Saturday, why they waited for a day when some teams already broke camp.

"This is not fair to us as there are some other districts that are still in camp. Who knows they might have known that the tournament will continue this weekend."

Fiji FA's Kumar said they continued with their discussion from Saturday.

He said they were unable to finalise the decision on Saturday and after deliberating through some issues, they agreed the tournament should be held this weekend.

Kumar said due to national team commitments, the board felt that it would be best to continue the tournament.

"We checked the availability of Ratu Cakobau Park and Lautoka's Churchill Park but they are booked (for this weekend) so Govind Park was our best option," he said.

Prasad said some of their players were on a "drinking spree" and the morale of the team have been affected through the "late" decision from Fiji FA.

But he assured the fans that Suva players would get their act together and remain a team to beat in this tournament.

"We will be marching into camp on Monday (today) and I request all players to be in by the afternoon," Prasad said.

"We say sorry to our fans as they won't be able to see the team play but I urge them to travel to Ba and support the team. Suva will definitely be a strong team in the Fiji FACT."