The Oceania Football Confederation’s (OFC) search for a new headquarters gathered pace with OFC General Secretary Tai Nicholas travelling to Wellington to gauge New Zealand Government interest in a proposed move to North Harbour.
OFC has already investigated the possibility of moving it’s headquarters to New Caledonia with OFC President Reynald Temarii and FIFA Ambassador Christian Karembeu recently leading an OFC delegation to the French Overseas Territory to meet Government officials about a new base located in Païta.
Nicholas is keen to see the Oceania Football Confederation secure the best possible proposal – whether that is in New Caledonia or New Zealand.
“What is clear is the need for the Oceania Football Confederation to relocate its premises to somewhere other than our current headquarters.
The current OFC Academy at Mount Smart Stadium has served us well but we’re growing quicker than our facilities can comfortably allow,” Nicholas said.
During two days of meetings at the Beehive, Nicholas met with Minister of Sport Trevor Mallard, Minister of Health Peter Hodgson, Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters, the Ministry of Pacific Islands Affairs Director of Policy and Communications Su’a Kevin Thomsen, the German Embassy and its ambassador Jorg Zimmermann.
“OFC pumps tens of millions of dollars into the New Zealand economy each year and the officials we met expressed an interest in discussing the retention of an OFC headquarters in this country.”
Minister of Sport Trevor Mallard said any OFC initiative that centred on women’s health and capturing the growing numbers of young women now playing football in New Zealand and the South Pacific was of considerable merit.
Minister of Health Peter Hodgson was equally supportive. “I’m pleased with anything that promotes physical activity and soccer and the programmes OFC and FIFA have proposed certainly reflect those values.”
However, both Ministers urged caution around securing potential sponsors where there was conflict between OFC’s central health messages and promoting physical activity, such as with fast-food chains.
OFC spends nearly $100,000 per year on transit visas. Nicholas and Peters discussed the possibility of visa waivers for transiting teams and the response was positive.
“OFC will prepare a paper which we will present to Associate Minister of Immigration. I’m sure we will get ample Ministerial support as the process unfolds,” Nicholas said.