WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand has been ejected from Sunday’s final of the Oceania Olympic qualifying football series after being found to have fielded an ineligible player during a semifinal against Vanuatu.
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As a result, Vanuatu were awarded the victory and went on to the final where they face Fiji on Sunday.
After a scoreless first spell against Vanuatu, second-half goals from Monty Patterson – his third of the tournament – and Bill Tuiloma earned the final spot for Anthony Hudson’s young Kiwis.
“It’s going to be the same again as it was against Vanuatu: win the battles and earn the right to play”.
New Zealand Football CEO Andy Martin says he strongly refutes the ruling and will be challenging this decision.
The technical reason for New Zealand’s disqualification was outlined earlier in a short OFC statement, which said Wynne had transgressed regulations related to residency.
New Zealand represented the Oceania confederation at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics after Australia left the region to join the Asian confederation.
New Zealand Football has confirmed Vanuatu protested the eligibility of Deklan Wynne following its 2-0 loss and the ruling has been upheld with New Zealand forfeiting the match.
“Martin said given the circumstances regarding the process around the decision, Sunday night’s Olympic Qualifying final should have been postponed”.
“We trust that Oceania Football Confederation will change its position and conduct that proper and fair process”.
“While we firmly believe tonight’s match should have been delayed, we will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that any final decision is only reached after a proper and fair process has been carried out”, Martin added. Under the article either the player, a parent or grandparent needs to be born in the country they wish to represent.
He has previously represented the full New Zealand All Whites team as well as the Junior All Whites at the recent Federation Internationale de Football Association U20 World Cup.
Wynne did not meet this criteria.
Neither the OFC or NZF returned calls.
Such a clause, however, would restrict many age-group players, particularly those wanting to play in the under-23 Olympic tournaments, from representing a country they were not born in or had any family ties to.
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The current Olympic qualifying tournament, which is part of the Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea, is the only avenue for a team from Oceania to qualify for the Olympic Games.
