On Saturday 18 September, the Organisation of Sports Federations of Oceania (OSFO) held its Annual General Assembly (AGM), which, for the second consecutive year, was conducted online.
The meeting was well attended, with 52 participants online and 23 OSFO members being represented, which was important given 2021 was an election year.
Current OSFO President, Kevan Gosper (Oceania Athletics Association), stood for re-election unopposed, and was confirmed to the position of OSFO President for another term, whilst one Executive Member position was also up for election. Milton Bradley (Oceania Shooting Federation) stood for re-election to the position, a position he secured over Graham Fredericks (Oceania Cycling Confederation), the only other candidate to put his name forward.
Lord Sebastian Coe – a double Olympic medallist and current President of World Athletics – was the meetings keynote speaker, whilst the online congregation were also joined by Dr Robin Mitchell, current President of the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) and Acting President of the Association of National Olympic Committees. During his address, Dr Mitchell announced $750,000 of funding for OSFO, coming in the form of an annual administration grant to help the organisation further service it’s members in the interest of the continual growth and betterment of sport right across Oceania.
Recipients of the 2021 OSFO Merit Award were also announced, and we would like to congratulate the following individuals, as well as thank them for their continual service to not only their own individual sports and organisation, but sport in Oceania as a whole.
Lorraine Marr
– Originally heavily involved with tennis in Fiji
– Now the CEO and Secretary General of FASANOC (the Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee)
John Tierney
– Secretary General of Oceania Sailing until recently
– Also has worked as a consultant for the Pacific Games Council
Anthony Ho (Awarded Posthumously)
– ITTF-Oceania President
– Recently passed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak in Fiji
– Anthony is the first individual to receive this award posthumously
OSFO would also like to acknowledge several individuals who have left us over the past 12 months, and thank them for their contributions to our community:
– Anthony Ho – ITTF-Oceania President
– Lee Smith – worked for Oceania Rugby, had been a delegate to OSFO in the past, and also worked with OSEP
– Douglas Guise – former player and coach with the PNG Pukpuks (rugby union)
– Charles Cadi – President CTOS New Caledonia and President of New Caledonia PGA
Finally, the AGM saw presentations from all members of the OSFO Executive, plus a number of OSFO partner organisations:
– President’s report
– Oceania Australia Foundation
– Pacific Games Council
– Secretary General’s report
– Financial report
– Major Projects report – ‘Whole of Sport Wellbeing’ – by Edwina Ricci
– Oceania Sport Education Program (OSEP) report
– TeamUp presentation
– OSFO Athletes Commission presentation by Ryan Pini
– OSFO Strategic Plan
Following on from the OSFO Strategic Plan presentations, all OSFO members were asked to complete the following survey as we look towards establishing a new Strategic Plan for 2022-2024: https://form.jotform.com/212532608409857