Fiji Football Association has strongly condemned the allegations made by Tailevu Naitasiri head coach Tagi Vonolagi at the 2023 Digicel Fiji FACT on Sunday.
After Naitasiri’s 5-2 loss to Labasa in their final Group B, Vonolagi in the post-match interview, made allegations on Fiji FA saying that four Labasa players were on double yellow cards which was not recorded from the first two matches and they were supposed to miss the third match.
Vonolagi later in the interview said it was Akeimi Ralulu, Sekove Naivakananumi and two other players.
“I think it’s going to be a Police case so that we stop all this nonsense from people that are doing backdoor job at Fiji FA.”
Fiji FA has clarified the situation and set the record straight via a media statement.
“Fiji FA condemns any form of baseless remarks, disrespectful or unprofessional behavior, and we are committed to fostering a culture of mutual respect and cooperation.”
“As per the official match report, four players (Akeimi Ralulu 7’, Ilaisa Vulimainavuso 19’, Sitiveni Rakai 75’ and Netani Suluka 89’) received a yellow card each in the first match of Labasa FC against Rewa FC.”
“In the second match, Ilisoni Lolaivau (84’) received a yellow card while Lekima Gonerau received a yellow card in the first half (38’) and a red card in the second half (71’).”
“All Labasa players were eligible for its final group match against Tailevu Naitasiri FC except Gonerau, who did not play because of his two-match suspension.”
“The Fiji FA has been allocating a fifth official who does the entry on our online competition administration system, COMET, with the information from the fourth official.”
“This is then checked over by the match referee who signs it off and approves on COMET. Similar practice was carried out at the Digicel Fiji FACT 2023.”
The football governing body said the matter is very serious and they have initiated a thorough investigation to gather all the facts and circumstances surrounding this allegation”.
The Match Assessor’s reports have also been thoroughly looked into by the Fiji FA Competitions Department and there is no such occurrence as alleged. We are just waiting for the video footage to fully close our internal investigation.”
“The Fiji FA is committed to taking swift and decisive action to address this issue and prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.”
