tension-packed sport
pp. 32-33 · Read in the full issue
French polit-ball is a tension-packed sport Reports HELEN ROUSSEAU, from NOUMEA
The current Caledonian sporting craze for “Polit-ball” has just claimed its first victim. Surpris ingly enough, the mishap occurred not to a licensed player but to a spectator who somehow became mistaken for a player.
Readers will recall that Cale donians playing “Polit-ball” are divided roughly into two sides, one defending the Paris goal post, the others supporting the Noumea end.
This tension - packed French sport is currently drawing large crowds throughout the island, al though how the Noumea incident occurred is as yet somewhat diffi cult to determine. The result, however, has been the recall to Canberra of the victim, who hap pened to be the Australian Consul in Noumea, Mr, Alan Edwards.
The incident came to light when Paris-supporting players charged that Mr. Edwards, officially a spectator, was actually lending a helping hand to the autonomy team.
In an article mentioned in this column last month, the pro- Administration Journal Caledonien weekly had stated in February that Britain’s dream was “the creation of a Commonwealth of the Pacific that she would direct through Aus tralia”. The paper also claimed that Mr. Edwards had suggested to some anti-autonomist Cale donian politicians that “autonomy would not be a bad thing for New Caledonia”. The four - column article, bearing a photo of the Consul, was entitled: “Mr.
Edwards Australian Consul or Propagandist for Autonomy”.
In a subsequent Press con ference, Mr. Edwards stated that his intention had been mis interpreted and that he had only been carrying out his duty of keeping the Australian government informed about Caledonian public opinion. The Consul insisted he
never tried to influence local politicians.
The autonomists having been brought into the limelight, one of their leaders, Melanesian Rock Pidjot, New Caledonia’s deputy to the French National Assembly, also made a Press statement. Mr.
Pidjot claimed that the whole affair was a plot by the anti autonomists to try to make out that the autonomists were “sold out to foreign powers”.
As this scuffle on the field con tinued, spectators in the grand stand remained puzzled over the reasons for the attack on Mr.
Edwards. Was it that the Consul, like his wife, spoke such fluent French and was such a keen fol lower of “Polit-ball”, he was geared to send close progress reports back to Canberra? Was it that the spectator had appeared too keen in his study of the players and aroused suspicion?
And all this, despite the Edwards’ close friendship with the French Governor and Madame Louis Verger?
The whole affair seems to indi cate that Caledonian “Polit-ball” is hardly a game for novices, and even the spectators are required to exercise considerable skill.
In the meantime, Mr. Edwards has been nominated to a post in London, where there may be more games of Pacific “Polit-ball”—as the British and French negotiate over the future of the New Hebrides.
In Noumea, the spectator value of the Caledonian sport may be measured by the fact that there are now no less than 10 news papers commenting on the progress of the game. These 10 papers, mostly, weeklies and monthlies, are supported by the seven parties in the Territorial Assembly and various other groups. Two of the papers, Aw a and Le Caillou have only begun publication this year.
(In addition, Noumea has three large papers owned by the SLN and another pro-administration group.) The game also occupies quite an army of official scorekeepers, without mentioning the amateur goal counters. Official tallies in clude those recorded by the State controlled radio and TV and the one believed to be kept by the gendarmes posted all round the island. The latter score is not made public; however the colonel in charge of the Territory’s gen darmerie recently returned to France, for health reasons. As for the radio and TV, when three Caledonian mayors recently changed their party memberships to join the ranks of the anti autonomists, this score was re ported three times in one day over the local news broadcasts.
The three mayors all come from the predominantly European popu lation on the west coast, where after one recent round of “Polit ball” a group of municipal coun cillors wrote to the Governor re questing the removal of the Sub-Prefect for that area. (The Sub-Prefect is the Governor’s representative in the region, a uniformed kind of “District Officer”.) Later, in the Loyalty Islands, a militant young Melanesian, Nidoishe Naisseline, was arrested for insulting the local Sub-Prefect.
Naisseline, who is the son of a hereditary chief in the Loyalties, has just returned from several years’ university study in France.
He was detained for three days before his court case when it was claimed he made insulting re marks, with particular reference to the uniform worn by the French official.
As the autonomists waged the attack, their opponents received re inforcement from Paris, with the visit of a French parliamentarian.
Mr. Rene Tomasini, Secretary- General of the UDR party in the majority coalition in France, passed through Noumea early in March on his way to Tahiti. He was quoted widely in the local Press as saying he made no con tact with the autonomists as he considered they were anti-French.
Meanwhile, Noumea received other visitors whose interests were financial rather than political: various banking personalities flew in from Paris to attend the official opening of the Territory’s fourth bank. This Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas, Nouvelle-Caledonie (PARIBAS, NC) includes share holdings by French and Cale donian interests, besides the Bank of America. PARIBAS is ad ministering the SUS2O million loan just obtained by the Territory to continue development projects over the current period of economic stagnation.
A Japanese mission to Noumea in March brought home the full message of the world nickel slump when they announced that their nickel purchases from New Cale donia would be only half the quantity purchased in 1970-71.
The six-man mission from the GOKOKAI (Association of Five Japanese Smelters) held prolonged talks over 10 days with the New Caledonian Nickel Ore Producers and Exporters’ Association.
The group finally flew back to Tokyo without reaching agreement over the new contract price, which the Japanese were seeking to lower. Japan is prepared to buy only around two million tons of nickel ore in the new Japanese financial year beginning April 1, and so the problems remained: who would accept a price cut and how much would it be; how many Caledonian nickel operators will be forced out of business and what will be the loss in private and public revenue?
The Japanese now have an Honorary Consul - General in Noumea. He is Mr. Georges Tsutsui, a local businessman, who assumed this post in February.
Meanwhile, on the nickel metal front, the SLN in 1971 produced 46,020 tons (instead of the pro jected 65,000 tons) and this year the production target is set be tween 48,000 and 55,000 tons, al
though an SLN spokesman says the company may only sell around 43,000 tons. The company is seek ing to avoid mass dismissal of workers, but is gradually reducing the output of the three blast furnaces and plans to transfer all men left in that sector over to a third new Demag electric furnace scheduled for completion at the end of 1972.
Out in the harbour, opposite the SLN smelter works, the cause way from the mainland dock area has now been completely linked up to Nou Island, about half a mile away. The harbour is thus cut in two by the new strip of land and it is expected that the roaa will be open to vehicular traffic sometime during April.
The causeway is the basis for the current extensions to Noumea port, providing new deep water berthing facilities for overseas ships.
Further projects in the develop ment of the Territory, together with political matters, were to be discussed in Paris when Governor Louis Verger left Noumea early March for a month of talks with the central government.
March in New Caledonia was also the month of going back to school after three months of summer vacation. Some 30,000 young people are estimated to be attending school up to Teachers’
College level. Tliis represents about one-quarter of the Terri tory’s population of around 120,000.
The summer holidays were over but there were still plenty of dis tractions for young folk and their elders. Two of the most popular French singers flew out from wintery Paris to the Pacific: they were Francois Deguelt and Johnny Halliday. They were followed by a different form of entertainment with a group of international “Catch” players. This spectacular sport is contested in a ring be tween two, three or even four “Catch” men. The heaviest of these fighters brought to Noumea weighed around 30 stone.
Combat of another kind was re called around March 12 when for
several days the Caledonian Press devoted considerable space to memories of the first landing in Noumea of United States forces.
That was 30 years ago now, during the Pacific War and the Cale donians still vividly recall the dynamism and enterprise of thousands of Americans who almost overnight built airstrips, roads, dams and accommodation, some of which (like SPC head quarters) is still in use today.
Across the pages of photos and local memories, one Caledonian newspaper editor concluded: “The Caledonian people cherish grateful memories of the valiant soldiers of the United States who, by their powerful aid and sacrifices, saved New Caledonia from the horrors of war”.
Caledonians concentrated their sporting efforts in March on swim ming, soccer and boxing.
The local swimming champion ships brought no new records but reinforced the victories of various established swimmers like Jean- Yves Mamelin and Patrick Legras, besides showing up some new hopes like Francoise Calla and Beatrice Godard.
In soccer, the Vallee du Tir district club in Noumea returned from Australia after two defeats in Sydney and Canberra. The SLN nickel company soccer club, having now won the “Coup de Caledonie” cup three years in succession, was offered a two weeks’ trip overseas including Sydney, Djakarta, Bali and Singa pore. The team, which was to play in Djakarta and Singapore, in cluded several members of the Caledonian team that won the soccer gold medal at the Tahiti Games.
For boxing fans, an inter national evening in Noumea dur ing March brought two Fijians into the ring: heavyweight Vuniivi Nadumu defeated Australian aborigine Hunter McHugh by KO in the first round, while Australian middleweight Alan Moore defeated Jekope Raibevu who threw in the sponge in the sixth round.
In amateur bouts, Caledonians were matched against Australians and won four out of the six con tests. These encounters were seen as a good preparation for the Oceanic boxing championship scheduled for Tahiti in June.