Sport: Pacific support for expanded Football World Cup

Transcript

JOSEPH BOSO: There's a bigger incentive there to drive development and to get that because it is a much more clearer path towards getting the qualification so I think very quickly we will see the impact on the ground as the teams know that New Zealand obviously is the top team in the region and beyond New Zealand you get to the World Cup so I think we will see a lot of change and it's something we will see make a lot of difference when it comes to senior national teams. As you can see with the youth competitions there is a lot of drive and development and investment put in by Oceania member countries to qualification for the youth world cups because now there are two spots [available to the region] there was a great competition earlier this year with the under 17s so we will see something similar, I believe, coming up for the senior men's team as well.

VINNIE WYLIE: If Oceania was guaranteed a spot - the idea of if you beat a team like New Zealand or Papua New Guinea you'd be in the World Cup, that would encourage maybe businesses or investors to put more money in or give the football federations, knowing that this is a real possibility?

JB: I think that the more investment in the game, not only from the football fraternity but also from the corporate sector and the government as well being more encouraged and more optimistic about national teams getting to the World Cup and that opens a whole new opportunity for companies for marketing and also commerce expectation. From a development point of view the reason why people would want to place their votes behind that is for the simple reason that [it's] not an easier path, one would say, but it's a direct path so the call for investment in developing football, national teams and other aspects of football will be something that is more attractive to countries with very limited resources like Solomon Islands and of course other Pacific Islands countries.