Football in Fiji, of course has a long history of club leagues at the local level and some zonal and regional formats.
The earliest two recorded clubs that formed part of the competitions that led to the formation of the Fiji FA were the Sitare Hind and Sunshine Club of Suva, both playing matches around 1920. There is an even earlier history of club based football teams playing in Fijian and European Leagues.
Club football grew rapidly after the formation of Fiji FA in 1938 with districts like Suva having five teams in 1935 and growing to 22 clubs with 41 teams by 1958. the club scene has continued to grow smaller over the years but the competition has become more intense.
Clubs are better organized now with most of the larger clubs patronised by big businesses and at least some of the players on some form of payment contract. The NCC was organized to provide a means of deciding on a national champion among club champions.
The first championship was sponsored by Burn Philp Home Centers in association with the Fiji Sun and FM96. Since then a number of sponsors have come forward to take up the sponsorship. Burns Philp Homecenters had the longest association sponsoring from 1989-1996 apart from their orginal 2-year sponsorship from 1986-1987.
The NCC was first played as a knock out competition featuring club selected by their districts. In 1987 the pool system was introduced and clubs were selected on he basis of being winners and runner up of their respective district leagues. In 1992 the zonal playoffs was introduced. This allowed for more clubs to compete in the first round and reduced the numbers for the final NCC play-offs.
The NCC is an exciting concept and one that could gain a higher profile if local league are conducted more professionally. The formation of the National Football League in Fiji in 1977 was the result of years of efforts before districts were convinced that it was the right thing to.
Since then the success of the National Football League has contributed greatly to the development of the game. Properly organized local leagues will attract better sponsorship and more promotion of local clubs among communities will lead to better crowds.
Fiji FA MEDIA
NCC History
