BY NEIL JEFFRIES
THERE is little doubt that one of the primary successes of the NRL has been to capture the young athletes of the Pacific Islands to make rugby league their primary sport.
Along with that, the pride in the identity of those nations has seen record crowds attracted to matches by their diaspora and, when the World Cup 2026 fixtures were announced for the men, Samoa and Tonga were rated as genuine contenders.
Both nations have broken the mold, Tonga with their heritage player switch in 2017 led by Jason Taumalolo that established playing credibility, and Samoa reaching the last World Cup final at Old Trafford and the Pacific Championship decider in November when they went down to New Zealand.
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The Papua New Guinea Orchids blazed the trail for the women of the region with Fetu Samoa currently taking up the baton.
The sport was introduced in the Pacific nations by allied soldiers and workers from Australia and, even though populations are sparse and riches few among the inhabitants, their love of contact and a ‘jumpers for goalposts’ philosophy to make use of any spare land to start a game, has enabled the spread.
Olsen Filipaina also changed perspective, although born in New Zealand he became the first Polynesian to make his mark on the game when signing for Balmain in 1980, so much so that almost half of the players in the NRL now claim similar descent.
As his biographer, Patrick Skene, noted: “Polynesian players were racially vilified and ridiculed for not being good enough.
“One man in particular helped change that perception with a display of rugby league that announced the arrival of the Polynesian power game.”
Former New Zealand, Queensland, Manly and Wigan coach, Graham Lowe, added: “Olsen was the face of hope for many Polynesians who were disadvantaged by lack of opportunity.”
Now the Pasifika sides play in front of record-breaking crowds, with 45,000 fans in Brisbane and almost 40,000 at Eden Park during the Pac Champs, while millions tuned in worldwide.
University of Auckland Pacific Studies lecturer, Dr Sarah McLean-Orsborn, noted: “For many Polynesian youth, particularly our young men, these league players have been role models, but for many Pacific families they have also become symbols of success.
“We are seeing families supporting their young ones to pursue professional sporting careers – because we see the value and the potential.”
She adds that Pacific transnationals embracing their cultural heritage, despite not having set food in their homelands, shows how the tide has turned since earlier generations first arrived in Aotearoa and Australia.
“No longer are we needing to assimilate and trying to blend in or to disguise our Pacific-ness – we are able to be loud and proud with our language, flags and sirens,” she claimed.
“This is also seen in the fact that many of diaspora children of the Moana wish to play for their cultural homelands’ national teams.
“This shows we are still maintaining connections in a meaningful manner. For our players who are island-born and raised, support from communities beyond the homeland are key pillars of support, to show that there is an international gaze on how government funding and support is procured and utilised in regard to sports.”
Nick Campton, writing for ABC News, noted that the Pacific Championship final should be a look into rugby league’s future.
“The 80 minutes, and especially the first half, was the best kind of football — brutal and beautiful, emotional and emotive, life-affirming and death-defying. It kickstarted the heart,” he wrote.
“You don’t need to be Samoan or New Zealander to feel the anthems and the Siva Tau and Haka fill your chest, but as the rowdy crowd of 28,804 will tell you, it certainly helps.
“What exists in the stadium during the cultural challenges is too powerful to be contained by a mere broadcast.”
Anyone who was at the 2017 World Cup semi final between Tonga and England in Auckland, when the Mate Ma’a were denied a last-minute winner following a sensational comeback as the Mount Smart Stadium – bathed in red and white – resounded in the most glorious hymn singing, would attest to that.
Campton continues: “There is nothing else in rugby league quite like it. As the crowds and football have shown, it’s the gift the game can give itself.
“The Pacific Championship being played three years in a row is an excellent start, as is Samoa and Tonga embarking on standalone tours of England. Next year’s World Cup can be a further showcase.
“Those things must be nurtured if these contests are to reach their full potential, which in certain moments can seem limitless.”
Progress in the southern hemisphere is reaching saturation point, hence the increasing need to conjure something similar in the north.