The smallest of all confederations is OFC. From Fiji to Tuvalu via New Caledonia, you find quite exotic football nations that were participating in the qualifiers. As usual, New Zealand have made the run but failed to qualify in the intercontinental play-offs against Mexico. However, this confederation will be certainly represented in terms of refereeing.
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| Peter O'Leary and Norbert Hauata |
Peter O'Leary is the clear no.1 of this zone and will definitely go to Brazil - there is no doubt about that. Politically, he is much stronger than his competitive from Tahiti called Norbert Hauata. Of course you cannot compare their officiating with other federations. The football played in this region is surely less organized, slower and therefore less professional. Both referees attended several FIFA tournaments in the past and have proven to be able to cope with the required standard to a certain extent. Some mistakes were made, but some good performances were also shown by both. The most exciting question however is whether FIFA will again appoint two referees from OFC (in 2010, Michael Hester handled a match as the main referee from New Zealand and O'Leary was only a standby official). Basically, I would like to see this again in Brazil. In the end, it is a World Cup and deserves participants from various regions of the world. I however could imagine that only O'Leary will be chosen so that Hauata has to stay at home. Everything is possible, the only sure thing is that O'Leary is to be considered above the Tahitian.
REFEREE with ASSISTANT REFEREES | MA | Date of Birth | |
OFC REFEREES – 1 TRIO + 1 STANDBY TRIO | |||
Referee | Peter O’LEARY | NZL | 03.03.1972 |
Assistant 1 | Jan Hendrik HINTZ | NZL | 24.06.1976 |
Assistant 2 | Ravinesh KUMAR | FIJ | 24.05.1982 |
Referee | Norbert HAUATA | TAH | 08.06.1979 |
Assistant 1 | Mark RULE | NZL | 08.06.1981 |
Assistant 2 | Tevita MAKASINI | TGA | 26.11.1976 |
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