The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) disciplinary committee has responded to claims of a potential conflict of interest among two of its five members.
The committee members were revealed in a 19-page document detailing its decision relating to the eligibility of New Zealand under-23 defender Deklan Wynne, which led to the team being disqualified from an Olympic qualifying tournament in Papua New Guinea.
3 News reported Chairman Allen Parker was also the Treasurer of the Cook Islands Football Association, while Don Marahare represented the Solomon Islands Football Federation (FF) on the FIFA legal committee.
Last week the disciplinary committee said in a statement its members "do not hold office, nor have any vested interest with any OFC Member Associations".
"Mr Marahare is a representative of the Solomon Islands FF on the FIFA Legal Committee. However, the Committee considers that this is not in contravention of its media statement of 14 July or the OFC Disciplinary Code," Legal counsel for the OFC disciplinary committee, Mai Chen confirmed to 3 News.
"He is not a member of the Solomon Island Executive Committee, nor holds office within the Solomon Island Football Federation."
The Cook Islands Football Association website currently lists Allen Parker as the organisation's treasurer; however, the OFC Disciplinary Committee says Mr Parker no longer holds this position.
"Mr Parker was not holding the position at the time the decision was made on the [New Zealand Football] issue concerning forfeiture. Unfortunately the Cook Islands FA website has not been updated to reflect this," Chen said.
NZF chief executive Andy Martin said on Monday that the organisation had received the written reasons for the OFC decision. They have until July 27 to file an appeal to OFC.
3 News