Lowy urged to seal Kiwi deal

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed Bin Hammam, who hails from Qatar, last year publicly stated his displeasure at the presence of an Oceania club in the A-League.

Phoenix are the only club in the world to play in a championship of a country of another confederation.

And last week the AFC advised the FFA that unless Phoenix became an Australian entity and considered their New Zealand players as foreigners by the end of 2011, Australia would lose its eligibility to compete in the lucrative AFC Champions League.

With Australia now in the race to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, the FFA has been placed in a precarious position of having to choose between appeasing the Arab nations or those of Oceania, who both have votes on the FIFA executive committee that will name the host countries in a year.

“What is the mission of world football? It is to spread the game and help each other and promote international friendship,” former AFC general secretary Peter Velappan, who is now retired, told The World Game.

“So as far as I’m concerned the AFC and Bin Hammam are showing a narrow-minded and parochial approach on this issue. And to threaten Australia with expulsion from the Asian Champions League goes against the spirit and goodwill of global football.

“This all came to a head because of Bahrain’s loss to New Zealand last month, which meant that west Asia would not have one single team in the World Cup.”

Australia is seen in parts of Asia as helping the cause of a country outside the AFC by allowing Phoenix to play in the A-League and the Arab world understandably is not too happy.

“The Arabs are whingeing and being difficult only because they are not in the World Cup," Velappan declared.

"Yet Bahrain had their chances against the All Whites. They even missed a penalty in the return in Wellington.

“New Zealand are no third world team and they played well due, no doubt, to the experience their players are gaining in Australia and in Europe. This is the way those who are complaining should look at things.

“Lowy should play a leading role in this impasse and invite Bin Hammam and Oceania boss Reynald Temarii to the table and try to sort out the problem.

“Lowy and Temarii should be able to convince Bin Hammam that the current position is good for the game and it hurts nobody. If no agreement is reached they should sound out FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

“I tell you it would be a great disservice to Wellington, New Zealand football and the game in general if the FFA gives in to the selfishness of these people and kicks Phoenix out of the A-League.”

Velappan, an outspoken opponent of Bin Hammam whom he has described as "autocratic", said whether Wellington played in the A-League or not should entirely be a matter between the FFA and New Zealand Football.

“It’s not the first time this has happened. Look at Wales who have clubs in the English leagues and look at Scotland whose two biggest clubs Rangers and Celtic want to join the Premier League,” he said.

“Perhaps the time is now ripe for Oceania to be part of Asia. A few years ago Oceania tried to join the AFC but at the time the move was seen as logistically impractical but nowadays the situation is different because we have good international transport and communications. This could be another part of the globalisation of football.

“It should all be for the good of the game and removing borders is one way of making our game truly global.”

New Zealand are reaping the benefit of being the top dogs in Oceania since Australia quit the OFC to join Asia in 2006 so they might not be too keen on joining Asia but Velappan said that the Kiwis and the rest of Oceania should look at their long-term future.

“They should forget about short-term gains and look ahead. Their football will only improve if they join Asia, same as Australia’s did,” he said.

“I was instrumental in bringing Australia into Asia but the AFC’s stance today is not about football anymore, it is basically politics unfortunately.”

The AFC offices in Kuala Lumpur are closed for the holiday period and Bin Hammam was unavailable for comment.