A blunder by sports bosses has embroiled New Zealand Football in an embarrassing and potentially costly mix-up over the 2010 World Cup.
Now, the Government's Ministers of Sport and Immigration have intervened to prevent an upset in the All Whites' World Cup qualifier against Fiji next weekend, whichcould have cost NZ Football thousands of dollars in lost ticket sales.
Problems arose after the Oceania Football Confederation decided to switch the dates of their qualifying games involving New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu to accommodate a request from the latter two.
This meant the Fijian side would have had insufficient time to apply for New Zealand visas for their players as the Government requires at least a month's notice.
But the change of dates - the games against Fiji were brought forward by five weeks - meant applications were not put in until Monday, leaving Fijian travel plans in chaos.
If they were unable to meet the deadline, the game would have had to be rescheduled or worse still, sent to a neutral venue which would have lost NZ Football thousands of dollars in lost ticket sales and television rights, given the large Fijian population in New Zealand.
But after urgent submissions from NZF chief executive Graham Seatter and OFC general secretary Tai Nicholas, the Government yesterday said it would review the situation urgently and give its decision on Monday.
Seatter hopes permission to grant the visas will be given then and that the Fijians will be able to fly to Auckland by Thursday rather than Monday as originally planned.
The All Whites are scheduled to play Fiji at North Harbour Stadium next Saturday. The second leg of the World Cup/Confederation's Cup qualifier in Lautoka on 17 October.
The European-based All Whites are due to leave on Sunday night in time for a first training session on Tuesday.
