By TERRY MADDAFORD
The controversial soccer semifinal between Napier City Rovers and Dunedin Technical will be replayed tomorrow.
Two days of protracted negotiations ended last night with the Dunedin players agreeing to return to Napier and to play at Park Island.
The winner of the afternoon match will play University/Mt Wellington in Sunday's Ansett national club championship final at North Harbour Stadium. New Zealand Soccer (NZS) chief executive Bill MacGowan has welcomed the decision.
"We are happy it has been resolved and that the team to play in the final will be found on the football field," said MacGowan. "We have agreed to underwrite the cost of Dunedin's travel and will fly them in and out on a charter flight."
The Dunedin players, who met behind closed doors for more than an hour before agreeing to the NZS replay proposal, wanted an assurance they could return to Dunedin tomorrow night and, if they win through to the final, fly to Auckland on Saturday for the final.
Their concern was the struggle for some players getting time off work for an extra day if they had had to go on to Auckland on Friday as NZS proposed.
The replay was seen by the NZS appeal committee as the fairest way to resolve what has been a contentious issue from the time referee Tony Cawte blew his final whistle in last Sunday's game.
There is no doubt that a breakdown in communication involving NZS, the referees' administration, match officials - both on and off the field - and the clubs led to the confusion. The match should have been decided under the "golden goal" rule - as per instructions issued to clubs on August 14.
But Cawte, his fellow officials, referee match inspector Bruce Whitlock and match commissioner John Simmonds saw it differently.
After the teams were level 1-1 after 90 minutes, the officials decreed that the game should go to two 15-minute periods of extra time and, if needed, a penalty shootout.
Tech scored first in extra time, Napier equalised in the final minute, then won the penalty shootout.
"We assumed everybody knew what was going on," said Napier City Rovers club manager Robbie Parker. "But obviously there was a communication error somewhere along the way."
Tech coach Roger Brooks said the matter had reached "farcical proportions" but remained adamant yesterday that there was no way he or his players would have agreed to play the game, as originally proposed, this afternoon.
"The odds are still stacked against us," said Brooks, "but we will reluctantly go up and play."
Last Sunday's match has been declared null and void, which means the one-match suspension incurred by Napier captain Perry Cotton for receiving two yellow cards will be scrapped.
Soccer: Semi replay terms hammered out
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