Finding a perfect Fijian Forward
Growing up in Fiji as a kailoma (part-European) who didn’t speak Fijian, at a school that didn’t have enough Fijian kids to make a team, and just too skinny, I didn’t play rugby.
We didn’t have TV so the only games I may have watched were local clubs, and the occasional Test Match at Lautoka’s Churchill Park between Fiji and Samoa or Tonga.
It wasn’t until I went to Uni in Auckland in the Rugby Godzone of New Zealand that I easily fell into loving Rugby Union and Australian cousin Rugby League. Having the basic rules explained with burly forwards, lanky locks, and fast backs, I settled into a beautiful routine of Thursday to Saturday games, from the humble, venerable NPC all the way up to titanic tests between the All Blacks and Wallabies, and the World Cup.
After graduating, I slowly stopped watching, and 20 years later didn’t have a clue who was who, world champion, Bledisloe Cup winner. All that changed when I retired and came back to Fiji in mid 2022.
I was kindly brought into the Green Bucket and Swipers Grog Groups which basically talks rugby, drink grog, mention something about politics, the weather, few other sports (boxing is popular), and then talk more rugby. I also met a cousin who I hadn’t seen for 40 years and BOOM!
My cousin is a goddess of sport- represented New Zealand in Netball along with her sister, as well as touch rugby, married to the most successful boys rugby coach in New Zealand, with 5 kids who are all sports fanatics, with 3 already representing New Zealand.
My cousin’s husband asks me to consistently find 1 amazing Fijian player every year for a fully funded scholarship to his New Zealand school. This is now what I’m going to do for the next 25 years till I die. As I have OCD, I’m going to build a beautiful player database, make it open so that players can update their own statistics, coaches can assess players to make transfer offers, and schools, clubs, and scouts can also offer scholarships and contracts.
Fiji is a poor country – financially and intellectually. We run sports the same way our parents did, and whenever money gets in, there’s always corruption. If we can setup an Open, Transparent, and Fair database giving the power to the player, parent, coach, and school, we will seriously improve rugby and livelihood incomes in Fiji.
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Fiji Rugby 