Fiji Football Association after the events of 1987 was looking for ways to revive football and meet their increased financial commitments. In 1988 Fiji FA organised an open tournament to mark the beginning of post 1987 football. It was a success played in Ba and won by Nadroga.
In 1990 the proposal for an additional tournament at the beginning of the season was made. And in 1991the Fiji FA Cup tournament or Fiji FACT was first played at Govind Park.
The overwhelming crowd support and the level of competition convinced Fiji FA to make it an annual event. This marked the beginning of a three major tournament football calendar for Fiji FA apart from National league.
The Fiji FACT tournament itself started the movement by Fiji soccer towards a calendar of local tournaments to raise funds for its development programmes.
Since the inaugural Fiji FACT tournament in Ba in 1991 it has now become an integral part of the Fiji FA soccer calendar. The introduction to 1991 annual report of Fiji FA makes clear the reasoning behind the inauguration of the Fiji FACT tournament.
Looking back at least last five decades shows us the diversification in the Associations activities. There has been an increased cost in administration, development and promotion of soccer throughout the nation, it is quite evident that the present sources of income was insufficient and hence a new event in the form of Fiji FA Cup tournament was started and will now become a regular feature in the annual soccer calendar to supplement the associations financial resources.
Fiji FA with the experience gained from the organisation of the Battle of the Giants as a fund raising tournament in 1978, returned to the format of this earlier successful experiment to introduce another chapter in the history of Fiji soccer through the Fiji FACT.
One of the remarkable features of the tournament was that for the first five years the runner up came out to win the tournament the following year. A trend briefly revived
between 1991 and 2001.
The 2011 Vodafone Fiji Fact is expected to have more twists and turns than a rollercoaster. And fans can once again look forward to a carnival of football excitement and thrills.
Fiji FA MEDIA
FACT History
