Talk:CF Rapa Nui

Representative?

To what extent can we say that this team represents Easter Island? I would suggest that a representative team is one selected, at least potentially, from a number of clubs, by a football association. Simply being from a place, even uniquely from a place, is not what makes a team representative. Gillingham F.C. is the only league team from Kent, but it does not represent the county in any meaningful way. Rapa Nui, by virtue of its geographical isolation, is not likely to have many non-locals in the team, but is that sufficient to make it representative. Kevin McE (talk) 18:04, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Well the BBC link lists the team as simply "Easter Island." A match report about Gillingham would not list the team as "Kent" - because they are not, as you said, representative of that county - but the BBC reporter seems to hint that the team represents the Easter Island nation. GiantSnowman 18:09, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Rapa Nui is the local name for the island known in English as Easter Island, but I think that it is telling that the Chilean source gives CF Rapa Nui, thus designating it as a club. I would argue that if it is a club, it is not a representative team. Is there certainty that this club, who as far as we are aware has only ever played one match, is the same entity as that registered with the NF Board (a body whose claim to be taken seriously is, IMHO, rather thin)? Or is CF Rapa Nui one of a number of teams on the island, under the auspices of a local association, who might be able to put out a representative team? ANFA (the amateur branch of the Chilean football federation) has a search function which returns Isla de Pascua (Spanish for Easter Island) as an association in the appropriate Region (región 5, centred in Valparaíso), but reports that association as having no clubs, while the site for ANFA quinta región makes no mention of Isla de Pascua, Rapa Nui, Hanga Roa (capital of the island) or Easter. Kevin McE (talk) 11:16, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

My interpretation is that CF Rapa Nui is the same as the Easter Island national team. The BBC states that the game against Colo-Colo was the "first officially sanctioned match" - indicating that there have been unofficial matches previously, such as those played by the Easter Island national team. Articles on other language Wikipedias seem to make the same claim. GiantSnowman 11:29, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

OK, I have now found a source that makes clear (rather than extrapolating from the qualification official) that it is a representative team: FIFA quote ad-hoc manager Miguel Ángel Gamboa as saying that he picked the best players from each team (of 6 teams on the island). Which in turn re-raises the question of whether CF Rapa Nui is appropriate, even though it is the name used on the ANFP site.

Not encyclopaedic, but www.colocolotv.cl suggests that Rapa Nui have the hairiest captain in the history of the game. Kevin McE (talk) 12:43, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Looks like it is a national team that is also a club. Could make naming difficult. Perhaps if we move it to Easter Island national football team or simply Easter Island football team, and mention in the article that "it has also entered a club team, CF Rapa Nui, into the Copa Chile 2009." GiantSnowman 12:50, 11 August 2009 (UTC)