2006 OFC U-20 Women's Championship Toleafoa JS Blatter Football

Event Report and Statistics– 2006 OFC U-20 Women’s Championship – Samoa
MEDIA AND MARKETING
The tournament received good media support from Samoa’s local media, with
dedicated coverage pre-tournament and a noticeable increase in interest as the
home side progressed to the semi finals. Most coverage was dedicated to the
home team and the favourites New Zealand, with little attention paid to the
matches not involving either.
It must be said that communication out of Samoa was difficult but despite the
technical difficulties the OFC Media Officer provided match day wraps for the
OFC website (www.oceaniafootball.com). These were also sent to FIFA and the
FIFA website (www.fifa.com) also provided media support for the worldwide
football family, exposing the tournament to a wider audience still.
Furthermore “colour-pieces” were produced in during and after the tournament
highlighting events around the tournament including a church service hosted by the
Prime Minister of Samoa the Honourable Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and
attended by players and officials of all teams. A further piece was produced
highlighting the number of former women’s internationals involved with their
respective national teams at the tournament.
From a television standpoint there was good match
coverage on Samoa TV, and results were televised. At least
three TV crews were present for the semi finals and finals.
On top of this a New Zealand-based crew on location in
Samoa were able to produce and export stories from
Samoa back to New Zealand.
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FIFA also had a camera crew in Samoa shooting footage for
a DVD on Women’s Football Development in the region, the
tournament provided an excellent focal point for the DVD
further exposing women’s football to an extended audience.
As with the general organisation, care needs to be paid
attention to media accreditation to control access to team
officials and players, this would assist in “managing” media.
Daily briefings could also be provided, as well as a pretournament
media session to clarify issues surrounding the tournament. The LOC would need to take a lead role in this in the future
to identify key contacts within each media outlet. Along the same lines closer attention must be paid to the FIFA Media Guidelines,
to streamline media protocol with the governing body, a particular area requiring attention is in terms of access for photographers
and identification of photographers also.