Coin and stamp?
Ram Bajekal
Suva
Good time for a commemorative stamp and coin to celebrate the Rio Gold?
Church mobile app
Savenaca Vakaliwaliwa
Delta, BC, Canada
It is great to read that the Methodist Church in Fiji is working on a smart phone application to have the content of its hymn book, catechism and other church resources available on Google Play Store.
My church has the SDA Church hymnal available online in English, but not the iTaukei one.
It is true that not everybody takes their hymn books or Bibles everywhere they go, but the phone is not only becoming a tool of communication and social media, but its become a tool for everything.
I smile when I think of its negative impact, as this will allow mobile addicts to have their mobiles in their hands during church service and instead of listening to the preacher – their minds are glued to their phones.
The phone needs to be turned on to access the hymnal and it is human nature to be answering text messages and phone calls when it comes through.
With all the pop ups that appears in our mobile phones, one will have a temptation gadget on hand, which could be used by the devil to get the mind and ear blocked from hearing the message from God being preached.
Church members should remember that God is with His people when they meet to fellowship and worship Him, and it is very disrespectful to God and His messenger of the day when the body is there, but the mind is somewhere else.
Sai Satya Sai Baba Foundation
Tukai Lagonilakeba
Nadi
Thank you and Dhanyavaad to Shri Satya Sai Baba religious organisation through their Sai Prema Foundation for its gracious humanitarian initiative in helping Fijians access medical help through their Health on Wheels programme to the greater Suva and Nausori area.
It is a great visionary sensible community project spearheaded by a great friend Mahendra Tappoo and his kind hearted brother.
From their humble hardworking beginnings in the hills of the Nadroga/Navosa province Mahen, Suresh and Kanti Tappoo together with his other brothers have been giving back contributing selflessly to our Fijian communities through their many business successes.
This is a of great national interest and I do hope our College of Honours from his Excellency the President’s Office will on behalf of all Fijians from our Republic will bestow upon the chairman of this organisation a medal from the order of Fiji to recognition and to honour their humanitarian religious contribution for the betterment and good health of our Fijian nationals.
Poor Show in Rio
Sandeep Kaushal Reddy,
Suva
Below is my opinion on the Fiji Men’s U23 Football team’s performance in Rio Olympics.
Now that the Fiji U23 Mens Football team is back from Brazil after bagging a generous amount of goals from other teams in its pool, it remains to be seen which direction football will take in the country.
Firstly to put it bluntly, it was a very poor show from the boys at the tournament. We were just there to make up the numbers and act as practice matches for other teams in the group. It was an embarrassment for our country in terms of football. The question which we should be asking ourselves is where are we going wrong?
The simple and most important mantra of football is to maintain possession. This is evident from all the professional leagues and international competitions.
Watching the three matches Fiji played in Brazil showed that we are still stuck to the “Fiji Style of Soccer” which dictates that backs to kick possession into opposition territory and expect strikers to create miracles and score goals. In its first game against Korea, Fiji did not create more than three passes in the first half.
The problem is that we are so accustomed to playing this style of soccer locally at all levels that it comes naturally to the players. We get to see this every time in the local league and the three major tournaments.
The mentality of football here is to win at all cost and we make the ‘beautiful game’ look very ugly. The three tournaments we have in Fiji are all hyped up as ‘festive atmosphere’ and we see the same format of kicking high and long balls.
The players play for the crowd and it just all becomes ‘bazaar soccer’. The team management and coaches look for players on ‘name’ and do their best to win just for a piece of silverware.
Do we see any teams play football like we see in overseas league competitions where they keep possession, string together passes, build play from the back and create goal scoring opportunities?
It is even beautiful to watch and easy to follow for people who may not understand football. However in Fiji you see coaches shouting from the sidelines, players aimlessly kicking away possession, inaccurate passing and players concentrating more on tackling opposition players rather than playing the ball.
It is just outright frustrating and boring to watch local football. Because all the teams play a same style of football there are no real lessons learnt on what we are doing wrong. It is only when we are exposed to international competitions then we realise that there is so much to learn to develop football in Fiji to competitive levels.
Believe me, even if we by some miracle bring a World Cup winning coach for our national team, we will never improve unless there is a complete overhaul to our playing style beginning at grassroots level.
In addition, the FFA needs to accept and listen to critics rather than resting on their laurels of past success and searching for that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Go online and watch the harsh scrutiny of England Football by former players and coaches after their dismal performance at Euro 2016.
We need to stop the habit of using words such as good exposure, lack of experience and the like, every time the national side receives a thrashing and makes a mockery of football in Fiji.
Fijians have been playing football for more than a century now and are we not concerned that in all those years there have been almost no improvements?
One just needs to compare our international rankings over the years to realise this. No amount of money spent on getting people from abroad will fix this.
It is for all stakeholders and people passionate about football in Fiji to come together as one and take football to new heights which all Fijians can be proud of.
Unfortunately there is no easy fix.
Feedback: jyotip@fijisun.com.fj