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Football at the Pacific Games

Founded	1963
Region	OFC
Current champions	New Caledonia (6th title)
Most successful team	New Caledonia (6 titles)
New Caledonia 2011 - Men's New Caledonia 2011 - Women's

Football has been a regular event at the Pacific Games, the multi-sports event for Pacific nations, territories and dependencies, since 1963.

Since 1971 the competition has been held every four years, but was not played in 1999 due to contract issues. Since 2007, the men's competition has doubled up as OFC's preliminary qualifying competition for the FIFA World Cup.

A women's tournament was first introduced in 2003, and has doubled up as the preliminary qualifying competition for the Olympic Games since 2007.

Men's Tournament[link]

Results[link]

Year	Host	Final			Third Place
		Gold medal	Score	Silver medal	Bronze medal	Score	Fourth place
1963 details	Fiji	New Caledonia	8 - 2	Fiji	French Polynesia	18 - 0	Solomon Islands
1966 details	New Caledonia	French Polynesia	2 - 0	New Caledonia	New Hebrides	5 - 2	Papua New Guinea
1969 details	Papua New Guinea	New Caledonia	2 - 1	French Polynesia	Papua New Guinea	2 - 1	Fiji
1971 details	Tahiti	New Caledonia	7 - 1	New Hebrides	Tahiti	8 - 1	Papua New Guinea
1975 details	Guam	Tahiti	2 - 1	New Caledonia	Solomon Islands	3 - 2	Fiji
1979 details	Fiji	Tahiti	3 - 0	Fiji	Solomon Islands	3 - 1	New Caledonia
1983 details	Western Samoa	Tahiti	1 - 0	Fiji	New Caledonia	2 - 1	Papua New Guinea
1987 details	New Caledonia	New Caledonia	1 - 0	Tahiti	Papua New Guinea	3 - 1	Vanuatu
1991 details	Papua New Guinea	Fiji	1 - 1 (p.s.o)	Solomon Islands	New Caledonia	3 - 1	Vanuatu
1995 details	New Caledonia	Tahiti	2 - 0	Solomon Islands	Fiji	3 - 0	Vanuatu
2003 details	Fiji	Fiji	2 - 0	New Caledonia	Vanuatu	1 - 0	Tahiti
2007 details	Samoa	New Caledonia	1 - 0	Fiji	Vanuatu	2 - 0	Solomon Islands
2011 details	New Caledonia	New Caledonia	2 - 0	Solomon Islands	Tahiti	2 - 1	Fiji

Medalists[link]

Team	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
New Caledonia	6 (63', 69', 71', 87', 07', 11')	3 (66', 75', 03')	2 (83', 91')
Tahiti (French Polynesia)	5 (66', 75', 79', 83', 95')	2 (69', 87')	3 (63', 71', 11')
Fiji	2 (91', 03')	4 (63', 79', 83', 07')
Solomon Islands		3 (91', 95', 11')	2 (75', 79')
Vanuatu (New Hebrides)		1 (71')	3 (66', 03', 07')

Top goalscorers[link]

Year	Player	Goals
1963-1995	Unknown	-
2003	Esala Masi	11
2007	Osea Vakatalesau	10
2011	Bertrand Kaï	10

Women's Tournament[link]

Results[link]

Year	Host	Final			Third Place
		Gold medal	Score	Silver medal	Bronze medal	Score	Fourth place
2003 details	Fiji	Papua New Guinea	Group Stage	Guam	Tonga	Group Stage	Tahiti
2007 details	Samoa	Papua New Guinea	3 - 1	Tonga	Fiji	1 - 0	Tahiti
2011 details	New Caledonia	Papua New Guinea	2 - 1	New Caledonia	Fiji	1 - 0	Tonga

Medalists[link]

Team	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
Papua New Guinea	3 (03', 07', 11')
Tonga		1 (07')	1 (03')
Guam		1 (03')
New Caledonia		1 (11')
Fiji			2 (07', 11')

Top goalscorers[link]

Year	Player	Goals
2003	Unknown	-
2007	Penateti Feke	4
2011	Christelle Wahnawe	12

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The Pacific Games (formerly known as the South Pacific Games) is a multi-sport event, much like the Olympics (albeit on a much smaller scale), with participation exclusively from countries around the South Pacific. It is held every four years and began in 1963, hosted by Suva, Fiji.

History[link]

Concept[link]

The idea of holding the South Pacific Games originated with Dr A.H. Sahu Khan who was one of Fiji's representatives at a meeting of the South Pacific Commission held at Rabaul during 1959. The idea was adopted and led to a meeting of nine Territories, held in Nouméa during March 1961, which awarded Fiji the honour of hosting the very first Games.^[1]

The Games are born[link]

During 1962, the South Pacific Commission founded the South Pacific Games, with the first ever Games being held at Suva, Fiji. In the 40 years since, Games have been held in 12 countries and territories within the region. Initially the Games were held at three year intervals although this was subsequently expanded to four following the Tumon Games in Guam.

As a residual consequence of the European colonisation of the Pacific from the early part of the 18th Century onwards, many nations who participated in the first Games (of 1963) were under predominantly British or French territorial rule. Understandably this generated a certain amount of confusion as both British and French flags and national anthems dominated proceedings and were occasionally used together for winning countries. Western Samoa (now Samoa) was the only country with a flag and anthem of its sovereignty as it was the only participating independent island nation at that time. As time went on, fledgling nations gradually achieving sovereignty of their own sought to extricate themselves from their colonial past and new national anthems and flags emerged. Nevertheless, English and French remain the official languages of the Games.^[2]

Like other sporting events, the South Pacific Games has experienced slight controversies. A minor dispute that still continues today is the scheduling of events landing on a Sunday. Throughout the Pacific, the Christian Sabbath remains very important (sporting events or similar activity are illegal in Tonga for example) and scheduling at such a time would be frowned upon. The events themselves have also been affected by religious sensitivities, notably beach volleyball where the official uniform of bikinis for women has been forced to give way to more conservative attire.^[3] However other larger nations within the region or those loosely associated with more secular states (e.g. Cook Islands (New Zealand), American Samoa (USA), and French Polynesia (France)) are more moderate in this regard.

Other global and regional events have also influenced and shaped the Games' history. In 1995, the year Papeete, Tahiti hosted the Games, many countries took the decision to boycott as a direct protest at French nuclear testing in the Pacific.^[4] The Games, however, returned to near full regional participation in the following event in 1999, held on Guam.

According to the Pacific Games Council^[2], The South Pacific Games were established with a view to

"creating bonds of kindred friendship and brotherhood amongst people of the countries of the Pacific region through sporting exchange without any distinctions as to race, religion or politics."

The South Pacific Games were established to ensure the efficient promotion and development of sports amongst the South Pacific Nations and their peoples^[2].

With expansion and economic growth in the Pacific and Oceania region, the South Pacific Commission changed its name in 1998 to the Pacific Community^[2].

The "Pacific Games" as they are now to be styled are intended to be something of a physical representation of the Pacific Communities as they move forward from the first South Pacific Games in Fiji in 1963.^[2]

Modern Day Games[link]

The XII South Pacific Games held in Suva, Fiji saw for the first time the introduction of a full program of 32 sports.^[5] That program included sports that are synonymous with the Pacific region as well as sports that have a limited participation and are generally not well established.^[2]

A strong corporate sponsorship package a first for the games enabled the organizers to work with a free hand towards their aims of making the games a success. A colorful and effective media and publicity campaign generated much interest and enthusiasm among the public in Fiji. Schools and youth groups were involved in interactive programs such as the adopt-a-country program also a first for the games.^[6]

The XIII Pacific Games were hosted in Apia, Samoa. They were the 13th to have been held since 1963. In contrast to the Olympic Games which are expected to generate income for the host nation^[7], the 2007 Pacific Games were expected to leave Samoa US$92million in debt, predominantly as a result of expenditure on large-scale infrastructure projects such as bridges and roads.^[8] Potential debt positions notwithstanding, five nations (Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga and American Samoa) are expected to bid for the 2015 Pacific Games.

Pacific Games Council[link]

The games governing body is the Pacific Games Council. The Games council flag is presented to the host nation of the next games at the end of every games. With expansion and economic growth in the Pacific and Oceania countries of the Pacific Islands it was now appropriate for the South Pacific Games Council to modernise and revise its charter in light of these changes in the region and the changing place of Sport in our society, thus the council adapted a new charter in 2007.

The current President of the Council is Vidya Larkhan from Fiji.

Pacific Mini Games[link]

Since 1981 the region has also run the Pacific Mini Games (previously the South Pacific Mini Games) to enable smaller nations to compete against each other.

Also a multi-sport event it is a scaled-down version of the main Pacific Games and is similarly rotated on a four year basis in the intervening years between the main games.

The following cities and nations have hosted (or will host) the Pacific Mini Games:

• 1981 – Honiara, Solomon Islands
• 1985 – Rarotonga, Cook Islands
• 1989 – Nukuʻalofa, Tonga
• 1993 – Port Vila, Vanuatu
• 1997 – Pago Pago, American Samoa
• 2001 – Kingston, Norfolk Island
• 2005 – Koror, Palau
• 2009 – Rarotonga, Cook Islands
• 2013 – Mata-Utu, Wallis and Futuna
• 2017 – Port Vila, Vanuatu ^[9]

As with the main games, the cost of providing the necessary facilities and infrastructure is a concern to the region's smaller nations. In preparation for the 2009 Games in Rarotonga, despite having hosted the games previously, the local government considered diverting funds from a highway project, and secured a loan for US$10 million from the Chinese government to finance the building of a stadium.^[10][11]

Qualification for FIFA World Cup[link]

For the first time in 2007, the Pacific Games formed part of the qualification to the FIFA World Cup football (see also Football at the 2007 South Pacific Games).^[12]

The Pacific Games were, until 2007, open for teams associated to the Oceania Football Confederation only, for example teams from the Federated States of Micronesia or Tuvalu or provisional members of the NF-Board such as Kiribati.^[13]

South Pacific Games Locations[link]

• 1963 - Suva, Fiji
• 1966 - Nouméa, New Caledonia
• 1969 - Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
• 1971 - Papeete, Tahiti
• 1975 - Guam
• 1979 - Suva, Fiji
• 1983 - Apia, Western Samoa
• 1987 - Nouméa, New Caledonia
• 1991 - Port Moresby/Lae, Papua New Guinea
• 1995 - Papeete, Tahiti
• 1999 - Guam
• 2003 - Suva, Fiji
• 2007 - Apia, Samoa
• 2011 - Nouméa, New Caledonia
• 2015 - Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea^[14]

Sports[link]

Note: The 12 required sports for the 2011 Games are bolded, save "Rugby" as it is not clear which of the 3 version (7s, league, touch) are required, if only 1 of the 3 is needed, or if all 3 are needed (touch is listed as the sport for 2011).

Cumulative medals table (after 2007 South Pacific Games)[link]

Officially the final medal tally of the Games does not recognize a winner, regarding competition and fair play more highly.^[2]

South Pacific Games medal count
Pos	Country				Total
1	New Caledonia	658	516	468	1638
2	French Polynesia	386	337	355	1078
3	Fiji	353	417	340	1110
4	Papua New Guinea	296	305	296	897
5	Samoa (includes Western Samoa)	145	112	112	379
6	Nauru	74	41	25	142
7	Guam	59	88	115	264
8	American Samoa	41	42	70	153
9	Tonga	38	54	73	164
10	Wallis and Futuna	22	35	71	128
11	Cook Islands	19	36	41	96
11	Federated States of Micronesia	13	15	11	39
13	Vanuatu (includes New Hebrides)	12	33	53	98
14	Solomon Islands	10	42	72	122
15	Palau	9	13	9	31
16	Northern Mariana Islands	4	12	12	28
17	Norfolk Island	3	10	15	28
18	Tokelau	3	2	1	6
19	Kiribati (includes Gilbert)	2	10	15	29
20	Marshall Islands	-	3	6	9
21	Niue	-	1	6	7
22	Tuvalu (includes Ellice)	-	1	1	2

Future Prospects[link]

The possibility of extending participation to all members of the Pacific Islands Forum has been flagged and it is hoped that participation of all countries will occur at the next games due to be held in 2010.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of the XIV Pacific Games in New Caledonia 2011
• Official website of the XIII South Pacific Games in Samoa 2007
• List of South Pacific Games and Mini Games on www.rsssf.com by Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation