Courtesy: The Illawarra Mercury


Iranian crisis forces AFC postponement

BY Joel Ritchie

30/06/2009

Today, Andrew Paine should be on a flight to Tehran for the AFC Futsal Championships.

Instead, he is stuck in a Wollstonecraft office block.

Paine and Fernhill Foxes team-mate Dylan Maloney were due to fly to Iran to represent NSW in futsal's answer to the Asian Champions League.

However, post-election turmoil in the Islamic Republic forced the AFC to last week postpone the tournament due to fears over player safety.

Paine and Maloney were convinced until then the biennial tournament - scheduled to start on Saturday - would go ahead.

"We were going into camp on Friday night and due to fly out on Tuesday," Paine said.

"I think a few of the boys were worried, but I was looking forward to it.

"It's very disappointing, we have been training for six months."

Paine admitted he and his team-mates were somewhat in the dark about the situation in Iran, but is bitterly disappointed he has been robbed of the trip to a country on few tourist itineraries.

"We don't know much about what is happening over there, we have to leave it up to the people in charge," he said.

"Hopefully it does all die down, you don't get a chance to visit visit somewhere like Iran very often."

Reports suggest the disquiet centres on the Iranian capital, while the tournament was to be played in Isfahan, almost six hours away.

Teams from Australia, China, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Lebanon, Qatar, Thailand and Uzbekistan were due to contest the tournament.

In the meantime, the NSW Thunder side will have to cool its heels with monthly camps and training twice a week.

Paine is itching to test his skills against some of Asia's best.

"The Iranians are phenomenal, the Thai side are pretty good as well," he said.

"We were going to have two Australian boys who play full-time in Spain on our side, but now, who knows?"

Acting AFC general secretary Alex Soosay said the tournament would be rescheduled.

"It is our sincere belief that it would be in everyone's interest, namely the participating teams, the AFC delegation, the host association, as well as the competition itself, for the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2009 to be held sometime in the future under more conducive circumstances," he said.

"We are monitoring the situation in Iran and we will advise of the suitable dates in due course."







Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com