At the OFC Executive Committee meeting held in Sydney, Australia on Saturday 6th November 2004, Tai Nicholas was appointed the new General Secretary of the Oceania Football Confederation.
Nicholas (aged 37yrs), is a qualified solicitor from the University of Auckland and practised law in the Cook Islands for 8 years for a private law firm before moving to work for the Cook Islands government where he held various government posts such as Secretary of Justice, Secretary of the Investment Board and Head of the Cook Islands Offshore Financial Centre.
While in the Cook Islands he got involved in refereeing and coaching football. He was the former General Secretary before becoming the President of the Cook Islands Football Association in 1995. He was also a member of the OFC Executive Committee and Chairman of the OFC Referees Committee as well as being on the FIFA Referees Committee and FIFA Appeals Committee.
He joined the Oceania Football Confederation in 1997 as development officer and competitions manager a position he held until March 2004 when he became Acting General Secretary after the resignation of long time General Secretary, Josephine King.
“The appointment of Tai Nicholas to the position of General Secretary is another step in the restructuring that is going on within OFC. Nicholas is a very experienced football administrator and the skills he brings can only enhance the development of football. His appointment was unanimous and without hesitation amongst the members which indicates how highly respected he is in football circles in this region” OFC President, Reynald Temarii said speaking from Tahiti.
“I am humbled to be appointed to such a privileged position where your work involves your passion – football. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in the development of football in the region. Our aim is to be the number one sport and I hereby give notice to rugby and league that football is coming and we will be successful” Nicholas said.
Nicholas lives with his partner Catherine and 9 year-old son Teariki in Auckland, New Zealand.
In other appointments in the weekend, Frederic Guillemont (from France) who is the OFC Finance Manager was appointed the Deputy General Secretary and former CEO of New Zealand Soccer, Bob Patterson was appointed as OFC’s Events Manager.