Samoa

 

Sport forms a vital part of everyday life in Samoa, in every village in the land. Soccer has been played there for a while and is raising its profile there but Samoans love physical contact sports.

Footy is known in Samoa as Samoa Rules as the rules have been modified to suit local conditions. Amended rules were necessary as the grounds available are somewhat smaller than those in Australia. For a start, Samoa Rules teams comprise 15 players rather than 18 - 5 forwards, 5 backs and 5 "on-ballers". A centre line is marked on the pitch and the forwards can only operate in their attacking half, the backs in their defensive half. The 5 on-ballers can go anywhere on the field. Five other players sit on the interchange bench. To encourage the kicking game, players are permitted to bounce the ball only once while running.

The controlling body is the Samoa Australian Rules Football Association (SARFA). Senior Teams:

• Siusega Blues
• Town Area Hawks
• Fasito'o-uta Tigers
• Fasito'o-uta Lions
• Maagiagi Lupe
• Vaimoso Bombers

Junior teams:

• Samoa College
• St. Josephs College
• Avele College
• Leifiifi College
• Maluafou College
• Vaisigano Senior Secondary
• Chanel College
• Robert Louis Stevenson Secondary School

 

History

Scott Reid is the founder of footy in Samoa. It is widely acknowledged that, if not for his efforts, there would be no Australian football competition in Samoa.

A grandson of former Richmond player Chum Reid, Reid went to Samoa in 1994 with Australian Volunteers Abroad and found he missed two things - his family and his footy. At the time, Samoa took its television from New Zealand, so he was forced to rely on newspaper clippings and videos for his diet of Australian football.

Even so, he was not alone in his enthusiasm. A number had dabbled in the game in the course of being schooled in Australia, while two ministers of religion had played while studying for their calling. Reid found enough kindred spirits to sustain a tipping competition.

At the end of 1997, however, the movement received a big impetus with the appointment of Doug Trappett - younger brother of Greg Trappett, at the time General Manager of the NTFL in Darwin - as Australia's Deputy High Commissioner in Samoa. Trappett had played for the Queanbeyan Tigers in the ACTAFL and also coached their reserve grade side.

A meeting was promptly held in the Samoan capital of Apia with the aim of establishing Australian football in the islands. Not all who attended were familiar with the game. Ape Misa Sofara, a man of immense dimensions with a full Samoan tattoo running the length of his thigh, was a kava exporter interested in making cultural connections with Australia.

The group's first initiative was to mount an exhibition match during the major Samoan cultural festival held each September. It was at this point that the game was renamed Samoa rules. It was scheduled as the curtain-raiser for the major rugby union fixture of the festival, a match that was guaranteed to draw a large crowd of approximately 5000.

The day before the new game was played, it received an unexpected boost when Samoan-born All-Black legend Michael Jones declared his enthusiasm for Australian football on local radio, saying he always enjoyed watching it and that he had a cousin who played for Geelong.

Accompanied by a live commentary (in Samoan) supplied by Misa Sofara, the 15-a-side match, played between Lefifi Junior High School and Robert Louis Stevenson School, was umpired by two ANZ bank employees. The Michael Jones Medal, for best on the ground, went to Robert Louis Stevenson's full-back, Pollard Tuala, notwithstanding the fact that he had been introduced to the game only one week earlier.

By November 1998 the code had spread sufficiently for an inaugural season to be unveiled under the banner of the Vailima Six-Shooters' Championship. The first team formed was the Fasito'o-uta Tigers, followed by the Vaiala Cats, Maagiagi Lupe, Line Up Magpies, Apia Barracudas and SARFA Swans.

The night before the opening match of the season, the goal posts, made of plastic piping, were stolen, but the game's organisers refused to be deterred. By now, Reid and his father Ken had enlisted the aid of the AFL and a number of its clubs. The Western Bulldogs have been magnificent, so much so that the Samoan national team has a bulldog as its emblem even though the breed is unknown in the islands.

Eventual premiers, the Vaila Cats, were kitted out by Geelong while the set of guernseys promised by Collingwood for the Line-Up Magpies unfortunately went missing in transit. In a state of emergency, the competition organisers rang Richmond, which supplied a set of training jumpers, the logo "Drink Drive - Bloody Idiot" causing considerable mirth among the Magpies and their opponents.

In Samoa, rugby union is king. SARFA has been careful to work with, and not against, union's ruling body, which still has hostile memories of Super League's incursion into the islands. But with a male unemployment rate of about 80 per cent and a youth rate that is even higher, sport is indispensable to Samoan life.

Most rugby players train every day of the week. Samoa rules is being promoted as the off-season game, with the result that not only are rugby internationals such as Veli Patu and Fereti Fereti playing, the game is also being umpired by the island's rugby union referees, some of whom are internationally accredited.

Sofara says that the unregulated nature of the game, compared with the more technical rugby codes, was something that had won the players over. "Rugby and rugby league are more technical games where you can't knock on and be offside, whereas with this game our boys have really been given a chance to show their flair. Most of them would prefer to play Aussie Rules now."

"The AFL really should be looking at the Pacific," said Reid. He points to the example of Papua New Guinea, which had a healthy Australian football culture that was neglected; within a decade, it had been usurped by rugby league. Reid cited the case of one of the Samoa rules players. "He's 20 years old, 190 centimetres, and the national 400 metres champion. He's a jet athlete. I said to him: 'This is your game'."

Bulldog Steve Kretiuk, who conducted training clinics on the island in January 1999 along with teammate Brad Johnson, agrees. He saw players with speed, ferocious tackling skills and a great appetite for the game and believes that were the AFL to invest in the island it would be only a matter of time before there were Samoans in the AFL. He has particularly vivid memories of one Samoan "who made Stewie Loewe look small and caught the footy in one hand like it was a tennis ball".

 

Arafura Games

Samoans love their sport and they also love to travel. "Within the first few weeks of starting the competition they were asking 'when are we going on tour?' We knew we wouldn't survive if we didn't go to Darwin for the Arafura Games as we had to give the players something to aspire to. And since we have been to Darwin the interest has been even greater," said Sofara.

The story of the Samoa Bulldogs visit to Darwin is one of great determination. They had their initial meeting in June 1998 and went to Darwin in May 1999, in less than 12 months!

SARFA contacted the Western Bulldogs in July 1998 and asked for their support, including playing uniforms as Samoa's national colours are red, white and blue. The Bulldogs were very happy to assist, providing SARFA with jumpers, shorts, socks and footys.

In May 1999 the Samoan Bulldogs flew to Melbourne, where they did some fundraising amongst the local Samoan community. They also saw two AFL games and trained with the Bulldogs. Next stop was Canberra via bus, where they did some more fundraising and trained with the Queanbeyan Tigers. Another bus trip to Sydney, where they did some more fundraising and trained on the SCG. They also watched the Swans train and performed a good luck dance in the goalsquare for Tony Lockett to break the AFL goalkicking record.

They then flew to Darwin and, because they could not afford accommodation, slept on the floor in the Wanderers club rooms. The playing squad was 24, with 22 from Samoa and 2 from Australia - Murray Silva (Subiaco) and Penaia Te'o (Derby).

Their first ever game was against New Zealand. Half way through the Haka the Samoans challenged them with their own war dance, the Siva Tau. The crowd had never seen anything like it and simply couldn't wait for the umpire to bounce the ball. Anyone who believes international footy has no future would have changed their tune after watching this game. It was simply sensational.

The Bulldogs improved as the tournament went on and were very happy with the bronze medal. The response from the Samoan people was terrific. They arrived home at 3am to be greeted by TV Samoa. The only other team they do that for is Samoa's national rugby team. Further, the Bulldogs were formally congratulated by the government.

 

Post-Arafura

The 1999 senior competition kicked off with 6 teams: Fasito'o-uta Tigers, Fasito'o-uta Lions, Tanugamanono Demons, Town Area Hawks, Maagiagi Lupe and the Vaimoso Giants. There were some changes from 1998, with the SARFA Swans folding. Both the Apia Barracudas and Vaiala Cats did not enter teams and the Line Up Magpies changed their name to the Town Area Hawks.

Although on a surfing holiday Dermott Brereton was kind enough to conduct a training session of the Tanugamanono Demons in November 1999.

In May 2000 AFL Development Manager Peter Cates visited Samoa to assist with the accreditation of coaches and skills development. School clinics were conducted at the local high schools with the number of participants ranging from thirty to sixty boys per clinic. From these players an under-16 squad was chosen to represent Samoa at the Jim Stynes Trophy in Canberra in June 2000. Although they lost all five games they were by no means disgraced, going down to the ACT side by only 7 points.

In November 2000 the Australian Defence Force team arrived, after having visited New Zealand in 1996 and South Africa in 1997. The team played a warm-up game against local premiers, the Fasito'o-uta Tigers in a typical tropical downpour. After adapting to the fierce tackling of the locals, the ADF team won 12.20 (98) to 1.2 (8).

The Aussies had only two days to recover prior to what was billed in the local media as a full international against the Premier's 22. This time in fine conditions, the ADF's greater experience saw them prevail 22.14 (146) to 2.2 (14).

The ADF also conducted a number of coaching clinics in Samoan schools where they were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and natural talent of the local boys.

In 2000 two Samoans played for Queanbeyan in the ACTAFL in Canberra. The following year saw nine Samoans turn out for Doveton in the Southern Football League in Melbourne.

 

Junior Competition

In February 1999 eight schools contested a Lightning Carnival. The winners, Samoa College, were presented with the Australian High Commission trophy.

SARFA appointed six National Trainers, all of them Bulldogs. "Going to Darwin changed them. Most were unemployed. Representing their country gave them self-confidence in every sense of the word. When they walk down the street they are recognised and are role models to the younger kids," Sofara said.

Smokefree agreed to sponsor the trainers visits to secondary schools to teach school children all about Samoa Aussie Rules and speak about the benefits of non-smoking. The trainers also talked about their visit to Australia, and some of the opportunities that might be available to promising young Samoan players if they play the game.

In August 1999 an eight team secondary school competition kicked off, the Pepsi Schools Samoa Australian Rules Championship. It was a great success, with Samoa College defeating St. Joseph College in the Grand Final, which was well attended. The match was played as a curtain raiser to a Samoa v Tonga international rugby schoolboys match. Because of the crowd the organisers thought that most of the crowd had come to watch the rugby, but after the grand final more than half of the people went home.

 

The future

The Prime Minister of Samoa, The Hon. Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is the Patron of SARFA. At the opening of the Vailima Sixshooters Championship on 21 November 1998, he said: "Samoa Rules is Samoa's own version of Australian Rules Football. Samoa Rules is therefore a creation from the cooperation and sharing of culture and ideas between Samoa and Australia. The sport could be seen as a bridge between our two nations and cultures. A bridge which will lead to a road of opportunity for strengthened sporting and cultural links between Samoa and Australia.

"Unfortunately opportunities for this small island nation's very talented sportsmen and sportswomen have been limited. I am of the view that the exciting and increasingly popular sport of Australian Rules Football could provide yet another career opportunity for our young sportspeople."

Australian teams such as North Ballarat and Queanbeyan have also shown interest in recruiting Samoan players. As Australia's High Commissioner to Samoa, Paul O'Callaghan, has stated: "The introduction of Australian Rules will result over time in opportunities for Samoan players to enter Australia's lucrative professional game."

Many of the All Blacks have been of Samoan descent. The 100,000 Samoans living in New Zealand constitute that country's third largest population. New Zealanders have realised for many years that Samoans are very, very good at rugby. Why can't they be very, very good at footy?

 

Grand Final Results

2002	Fasito'o-uta Tigers (score unknown)
2001	Fasito'o-uta Tigers 9.15 (69) d. Fasito'o-uta Lions 6.12 (48)
2000	Fasito'o-uta Tigers 15.16 (106) d. Fasito'o-uta Lions 10.11 (71)
1999	Fasito'o-uta Tigers 10.12 (72) d. Vaimoso Bombers 2.8 (20)
1998	Vaiala Cats 6.7 (43) d. Line Up Magpies 4.4 (28)

 

International Matches

1999	New Zealand 6.8 (44) d. Samoa 2.3 (15)
1999	Samoa 15.8 (98) d. Central Desert Eagles 5.4 (34)
1999	Samoa 10.8 (68) d. Singapore 1.5 (11)
1999	Samoa 12.17 (89) d. Hong Kong 3.6 (24)
2002	USA 7.10 (52) d. Samoa 4.7 (31)
2002	Ireland 5.6 (36) d. Samoa 4.5 (29)
2002	Samoa 12.15 (87) d. South Africa 1.4 (10)
2002	New Zealand 10.10 (70) d. Samoa 5.8 (38)
2002	Samoa 9.15 (69) d. Canada 0.5 (5)
2002	Samoa 5.7 (37) d. Nauru 2.8 (20)

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