TBT #03 – Forgotten heroes from Solomon Islands

In 2013 Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) was struggling financially and 2014 World Cup qualifier was coming to its end by that time. Solomon Islands was in the final stage alongside New Zealand, Tahiti and New Caledonia fighting for a spot in the Inter-confederation play-offs.

The four teams should face each other twice in order to decide which team would qualify for the Inter-confederation play-offs. After four matches Solomon Islands was on bottom with just three points but SIFF’s financial situation was catastrophic and they would not be able to sent a team to Papeete to face Tahiti.

If Solomon Islands did not show up to this match, they could likely be punished for it by FIFA and get a five-year ban from international football and few USD millions fine was ready to be unleashed. But like in a heroes movie, David Firisua and Neil Poloso appeared and put their efforts together to avoid it.

After a research, they managed to find thirteen players from Solomon Islands that were living in New Zealand and could be able to defend the National Team. Most of them were young and unknown players by that time but the team still had two important players flying to Tahiti: Henry Fa’arodo and Benjamin Totori.

Tahiti was having its greatest time in football history: They won OFC Nations Cup in 2012 and they were a few months away from traveling to Brazil to play 2013 Confederations Cup where they faced Spain, Uruguay and Nigeria.

“We were being mocked by few Solomon Islands calling us a bunch of fruit pickers living in New Zealand. However, they do not know the quality we have ourselves. The likes of Benjamin Totori who was playing for Wellington Pheonix then. Our skipper, Henry Fa’arodo Jnr who also was playing Team Wellington. Michael Fifi’i and Andrew Abba who are lethal attackers and not forgetting Joachim Rande. This was a team made up of internationals.” said Alex Waimora, one of the called-up players for this match.

Things happened fast in that week. With two players from college (George Ladoga and Alex Waimora) and some others from Zealander universities, Solomon Islands flied to Tahiti with their hearts and souls to give their best – “We met up a day before flying to Tahiti. We trained once in Auckland then traveled to Tahiti for the game” said Andrew Abba. They stayed at Oceania Football Confederation centre at Onehunga for two days and that was all. They did not have any financial backing except the tickets to and from Tahiti. You can check all Solomon Islands players that took place in this historical match by clicking here.

Alex Waimora also shared with Oceania Football Center how was the day he was called-up for Solomon Islands National Team – “I was still in High School when this great historical football moment came about. George Ladoga and I were fellow Solomon Islanders studying at New Zealand’s top high school, Saint Kentigern College. It was an early morning when we recieved a phone call from our high school coach, Michael Ridenton who is a former All Whites saying that we should expect a big news later that day about our football careers. Well, it was in the evening and we just received an e-mail from David Firisua asking for our service for a WORLD CUP QUALIFYING match against TAHITI for the national team. Without a doubt, George and I replied and fully agreed.”

That match was special and difficult for them, specially for Andrew Abba because he played with an injured knee. “Our gameplan was to get them on the counter attack” he said – Andrew Abba also made an interview recently with Oceania Football Center about his comeback to Solomon Islands national team.

Solomon Islands had some chances to score with Benjamin Totori but Tahiti’s goalkeeper performed really well in that day. “One exciting moment was when Benjamin Totori hit the ball after one twos with me and the ball got stuck in the back of the goal post. We all jumped in celebration thinking it was a goal but actually it was not… I also came close to scoring on one occasion when Benjamin Totori set me through but I was pulled back by Tahiti’s defender… I wanted to fall down in the box but I was just few inches away” said Waimora.

Despite fighting bravely they could not avoid the defeat to Tahiti. “Unfortunately we made two mistakes and they scored after these mistakes” said Abba. Losing by 2-0 was a great result having in mind that Solomon Islands National Team had only one training session while Tahiti was a well drilled and conditioned team.

They did not avoid the defeat but they avoided something bigger: A five-year ban from international soccer for Solomon Islands. It is something forgotten in the past but local people should remember what Firisua, Poloso and these thirteen players did on 22 March 2013. Unfortunately there are not good pictures of this match. Samuel Osso, Andrew Maeribu, Stewart Quan, George Ladoga, Michael Fifi’i, Andrew Abba, Henry Fa’arodo, Joachim Rande, Benjamin Totori, Wesley Olea, Alex Waimora, Calvin Erick and Tony Havea, YOU ARE HEROES!

Currently living a good time in football, even qualifying for an U17 World Cup, the history of Solomon Islands in football could be completely different if they have not showed up for that match. “Today, we see Solomon Islands national U17 to the world cup, today we see Solomon Islands national U23 have a very fantastic tournament. I mean, we opened and gave these kids these opportunities indirectly when we agreed on stepping onto that plane and flew to Tahiti.” stated Waimora.

“All in all, I think it was an experience that helped many of us realise how it is important to run football properly […] Today we do not expect SIFF to give us any money or compensation for this moment of history because we know money is an issue that everyone faces. One thing we hope SIFF will do is learn from this experience and make a better future for the upcoming football stars. No team deserves to travel with only 13 players to a world cup with no financial support at all.” said Waimora. “People doubt us, people call us sorts of names, but behind that brick wall we climbed high and put Solomon Islands Soccer to where it is today” stated Michael Fifi’i.

It seems that SIFF really learned something from this lesson. The Federation’s current situation is much better than that chaotic situation of six years ago. We hope this chaos never come back, but if it happens, there will be more heroes ready to save them.