Is there significance in the timing of the recent Cook Islands Football Association (CIFA) ban placed on a Nikao Sokattak football player two days before his team was to play Tupapa Maraerenga, the club blatantly favoured by the CIFA president? The depleted Nikao team unfortunately succumb to more than just on-field tactics.

The sad thing is that there is a history of dirty tricks, to the benefit of one club only.

Last season CIFA, most believe deliberately, procrastinated processing a player transfer from Tupapa Maraerenga to Nikao Sokattak. The timing of this won’t surprise you. Yes, when the documentation was hand delivered to CIFA in the week preceding the two teams meeting for the first game of last season, the president – who knew to expect the delivery – had mysteriously disappeared from the premises and staff present had clearly been instructed not to accept it. Would you be surprised that the player affected in both seasons was the same person?

Over the last two to three years a number of our Mr Harmon’s actions against this player show a clear prejudice.

And there’s more. The practice of Tupapa Maraerenga FC bringing in New Zealand players for 1-2 games critical to winning the league is criminal and has to stop. The club calls it an exchange, which is a misuse of the word, and its justification is that the New Zealand players are being rewarded with a holiday for participating in its OFC Club Championship games. Hold on, haven’t they already received an expenses-paid trip to a Pacific country and the valuable experience of participating in that prestigious event? All of this I might add, at the expense of local players.

I want to see an independent audit done of the New Zealand players’ club transfer records, because I smell a rat. None of the manipulation of the league outcome, season after season, would be possible without CIFA turning a blind eye. It could of course be more than that, perhaps even direct involvement of its officials.

There will be some who say, who cares, there’s no consequence to any of this. Well that’s where they are wrong. I’ll explain.

The big prize in Cook Islands football is that the season’s league winning club qualifies to participate in the already mentioned Oceania Club Championship. This means valuable international experience, which is a huge incentive for any footballer and can be the ticket to kick-start and/or accelerate a young person’s football career.

Any mismanagement/manipulation of the league by the powers that be means that not all clubs and their loyal players (no matter how good or promising they may be), get fair and equal opportunity to experience the game at the higher level and develop. Parents wanting the best for their kids shouldn’t have to contend with glass ceilings and you can bet your boots that FIFA (the football world governing body) don’t condone dishonest behaviour that destroys people’s trust.

This also distorts the club structure on Rarotonga, because players see benefits regularly enjoyed by one club and feel compelled to transfer there, despite the best coaching not being available.

From a moral/ethical perspective, is this sort of behaviour acceptable in our society and should we continue to tolerate it?

Give CIFA a red card