Fiji soccer history 1980–1989: A philosophical and sociological analysis

Abstract

We use theories from the philosophy of sport literature to contextualize and make conclusions in relation to two famous matches in Fiji’s soccer history: the 1982 Inter-District Championship Final between Ba and Nadi and the 1988 World Cup Qualifier between Australia and Fiji. In relation to the first game, Nadi and Ba officials made a gentlemen’s agreement not to accept Fiji Football Association’s decision to host the final replay in the neutral venue of Lautoka instead of the original venue of Nadi and then Ba reneged on that agreement. We conclude that, based on the philosophical treatment of fair play as equal to respect for the game, Fiji FA was within its rights to host the replay in Lautoka and Nadi should have turned up to play on the day. In the second game, we argue that Fiji was the better team on the day, in its 1–0 win over Australia, and so the victory was neither hollow nor undeserved. However, during that era, Australia was the better team overall as it won the majority of games played between the two nations.

Keywords

• fiji-indians
• fiji islands
• fiji soccer
• football history
• pacific islands
• philosophy of sport
• soccer history