Local Pages
“Not on Sunday!” Meeting Errol Bennett
Elder and Sister Baehrel, from the Montpellier Ward in the Toulouse France Stake, are currently serving a senior couple mission in Tahiti. They have been sharing uplifting and inspiring experiences from their time in the field, and this story offers a glimpse into one of those special moments.
I had the privilege of meeting Errol Bennett.
Born in Papeete on May 7, 1950, Errol Bennett is a footballer and Oceania vice-champion with Tahiti. From the age of 10, he built up a fine reputation in the Mairie school team in Papeete, but at 17, with his inclusion in the pennant team of Central Sport de Papeete—the only club he had ever known—he became feared and respected for his speed and eye for the goal. The latter would wreak havoc with the professionals.
It was at Central Sport that Bennett demonstrated his remarkable goalscoring skills, which earned him the title of top scorer in the Tahitian league 11 times between 1972 and 1983, eight of them consecutively, with an average of 28 to 30 goals. Bennett became a real star in Tahiti, both at club and team level.
In March of 1977, Errol Bennett joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then refused to play soccer on Sundays. In response, Napoléon Spitz, the president of Bennett’s club and the Fédération Tahitienne de Football (FTF), called a meeting of FTF members and declared that his entire club would stop playing soccer on Sundays. After some discussion, all the affiliated clubs agreed to reschedule matches during the week.
Bennett’s decision to not play on Sundays did not hinder his success. Central Sport won the Tahitian championship eight consecutive times from 1972 to 1979 and claimed the South Pacific Tournament title four times in a row. The club also made it to the seventh round of the Coupe de France, achieving a memorable 3–0 victory over US Orléans in Papeete during the 1978–79 season.
With Bennett’s contribution, the Tahitian team won gold medals at the South Pacific Games in 1975, 1979, and 1983. They were also Oceania runners-up in 1973, where Bennett, the competition’s top scorer, netted three goals, and again in 1980, with Bennett scoring one goal in the final against Australia.
Errol Bennett was one of the most talented and respected footballers in the South Pacific, as well as one of the most popular, from Fiji to New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia.
The International Federation of Football History and Statitics (IFFHS) voted him one of the 20 greatest Oceania players of the twentieth century, and the best Tahitian player of the twentieth century, ahead of Pascal Vahirua. He ended his soccer career at the age of 42.
A municipal policeman by profession, Errol Bennett is the father of seven children, including Naea Bennett, star striker for AS Pirae and the Tahitian National Team.