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Pacific Islanders in Global Rugby: The Changing Currents of Sports Migration

2012; Routledge; Volume: 29; Issue: 17 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09523367.2012.746834

1743-9035

Peter Horton,

Island Studies and Pacific Affairs

Abstract The newly emergent PasifikaFootnote1 diasporas as elements of a new sports labour migrant are an important force of immense significance in global rugby football. This paper illustrates the place of rugby in Pasifika communities and how and why it has become a zone of potential success, aspiration and social advancement for Pasifika people. An impression is given of the enormity of their range and influence in the sport using illustrations drawn from the ranks of current Pacific professional rugby players. The complex relationship among Pacific Islanders, globalisation and rugby football will also be discussed demonstrating not merely the issue of Pasifika communities as recipients of the cultural effects of globalisation via imperial rule and cultural diffusion, but also of their impact as creolising agents on the sport of rugby throughout the mid twentieth century to the current professional era. Throughout this discussion it is noted that rugby is seen as a means not just of individual advancement but as a potential source of financial security for players' families and their wider communities in the Pacific Islands and in their adopted countries. The vexatious issue of remittances, responsibility and rugby as a major career pathway is also raised. 1. It must be acknowledged at the outset that the term 'Pasifika' is somewhat problematic. 'Pasifika', as a Polynesian way of saying 'Pacific', should technically be used as an adjective. However, 'Pasifika' is primarily used to refer to Pacific people in the diaspora, and the usage varies from New Zealand to Australia. In this paper, the inclusion of Mãori under the umbrella term 'Pasifika' has been avoided. Every effort has also been made to correctly use relevant anthropological/scientific terms such as Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian. Keywords: Pasifika peoplesPacific Islandersrugby footballsports migrationdiasporaglobalisation Notes 1. It must be acknowledged at the outset that the term 'Pasifika' is somewhat problematic. 'Pasifika', as a Polynesian way of saying 'Pacific', should technically be used as an adjective. However, 'Pasifika' is primarily used to refer to Pacific people in the diaspora, and the usage varies from New Zealand to Australia. In this paper, the inclusion of Mãori under the umbrella term 'Pasifika' has been avoided. Every effort has also been made to correctly use relevant anthropological/scientific terms such as Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian. 2. See CitationCollins, Social History of English Rugby Union, 183–205. 3. CitationZavos, 'Browning of the Wallabies' 4. Ibid. 5. Ibid. 6. CitationPaul, 'Rugby: Pacifika' 7. Ibid. 8. The Samoan word fa'afafine literally translates as, 'in the manner of a woman': fa'afafine are biological males who express feminine gender identities in a range of ways'. (For an excellent discussion of transgenderism in Samoa, see CitationSchmidt, 'Redefining Fa'afafine'.) 9. CitationGodwin, 'Meet the Tuilagis'. 10. Ibid. 11. 'Pacific Power Helps NZ World Cup Dreams', Newsdesk, http://nz.sports.yahoo.com, September 3, 2011. http://www.niuenews1.com/pacific-power-helps-nz-world-cup-dreams/10071/, (accessed October 3, 2011). 12. Statistics New Zealand, 'Subnational Population Estimates at 30 June 2009'. http://www.stats.govt.nz/methods_and_services/access-data/tables/subnational-pop-estimates.aspx (accessed February 11, 2012).. 13. CitationWilliams, 'Power Play', 1. 14. See CitationGeorge and Rodriguez, 'Hybrid Youth Identity', 8–12. 15. See CitationBoyd, 'New Zealand', 295–322. 16. CitationBesnier, 'Sport as Vector', 1. 17. See below, CitationRobertson, 'Born Here'. Fiji: Nicky Little (Tokoroa, New Zealand), Campese Ma'afu (Sydney, Australia), Deacon Manu (New Plymouth, New Zealand), Vitori Tomu Buatava (Melbourne, Australia) and Michael Tagicakibau (Auckland, New Zealand). Samoa: Census Johnston (Auckland, New Zealand), Anthony Perenise (Wellington, New Zealand), Olé Avei (Wellington, New Zealand), Daniel Leo (Palmerston North, New Zealand), Kane Thompson (Paraparaumu, New Zealand), Kahn Fotuali'i (Auckland, New Zealand), Jeremy Sua (Wellington, New Zealand), Tusi Pisi (Auckland, New Zealand), Sailosi Tagicakibau (Auckland, New Zealand), James So'oialo (Wellington, New Zealand), Ti'i Paulo (Christchurch, New Zealand), Filipo Lavea Levi (Hamilton, New Zealand), Junior Poluleuligaga (Auckland, New Zealand), Tasesa Lavea (Taihape, New Zealand) and Paul Williams (Auckland, New Zealand) Tonga: Tukulua Lokotui (Auckland, New Zealand), Kurt Morath (Takapuna, New Zealand), Alipate Fatafehi (Sigatoka, Fiji), Ephraim Taukafa (Auckland, New Zealand), Joseph Tuineau (Suva, Fiji), Thomas Palu (Wellington, New Zealand), Andrew Ma'ilei (Auckland, New Zealand), William Helu (Otahuhu, New Zealand) and Siale Piutau (Auckland, New Zealand). 18. CitationLee, 'Transforming Transnationalism', 157. 19. CitationSabo and Panepinto, 'Football Ritual', 115. 20. CitationMaguire, Global Sport, 75–94. 21. CitationSpriggs, 'Oceanic Connections', 10 22. Ibid. 23. CitationHogg, et al., 'Wiggle-Match Date', 116–25. 24. CitationWallerstein, Capitalist World Economy, 1–152. 25. Appadurai, 'Disjuncture and Difference', 295. 26. CitationAnderson, Imagined Communities. 27. CitationAppadurai, 'Disjuncture and Difference', 296. 28. Ibid., 296–300. 31. CitationGrainger, 'Rugby Island Style', 47. 29. See CitationMangan, 'Prologue: Britain's Chief Spiritual Export', 178. 30. CitationTennyson, 'They Taught the World to Play'. 32. Anderson, Imagined Communities, 3. 33. Appadurai, 'Disjuncture and Difference', 297 34. Ibid. 35. CitationLim, Development of Sport in Singapore, 73. 36. The definitive explication of 'Athleticism' can be found in CitationMangan, Athleticism. 37. See CitationMangan and Hickey, 'Globalization, the Games Ethic', 105. 38. See CitationHorton, 'Padang or Paddock?' 39. CitationHorton, 'Rugby Union Football', 1615–6. 40. Lemalu Tate Simi in CitationDewey, 'Embracing Rugby', 159–60. 41. Ibid, 159. 42. FijiRugby.com. http://www.fijirugby.com/pages.cfm/about-union/history/ (accessed December 18, 2011). 43. Dewey, 'Embracing Rugby', 159. 44. CitationCashman, Paradise of Sport, 95. 45. See CitationHargreaves, 'Playing Like Gentlemen', 40–52. 46. See CitationMosely, 'Soccer', 155–73. 47. For an excellent review of international migration theories concerned with the 'push-pull' framework, see CitationHooghe et al., 'Migration to Europe', 4–6. 48. Ibid, 478, citing CitationCastles and Miller, Age of Migration, 19. 49. CitationZakus and Horton, 'Pasifika in Australian Rugby', 72. 52. CitationMaclellan and Mares, 'Labour Mobility', 137. 50. CitationGriffen, 'Gender Relations', 13. 51. A significant exception to this trend in recent years has been seen with the Indo-Fijians who fled Fiji following the 2006 military coup that led to the installation of the military-led and largely native-Fijian government. 53. World Bank Development Indicators Database, 2008, cited, in Trends in Remittance Fees and Charges, Report of the Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers' Meeting, October 26–29, 2010, 7. http://www.forumsec.org/resources/uploads/attachments/documents/FEMN.07_Remittances_Paper_Final.pdf (accessed February 8, 2012). 54. Maclellan and Mares, 'Labour Mobility', 137–8. 55. See CitationLakisa, 'The Pacific Revolution', 8. 56. Ibid. 57. CitationMasters, 'Big Issue No One is Game to Tackle'. 58. See Zakus and Horton, 'Pasifika in Australian Rugby', 75–80. 59. CitationLee, 'Rethinking Transnationalism', 296–7. 60. CitationGuinness, 'By George'. 61. 'Pacific Players Set to Dominate 2006–2007 French Rugby Season', French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Europeans. http://www.ambafrance-fj.org/Pacific-players-set-to-dominate (accessed July 20, 2009). 62. 'Polynesian Talent', Reported on TVNZ 'One Sport', August 10, 2006. 63. CitationCoudry, 'Les étrangers font débat dans le rugby français'. 64. CitationClegg, 'French Rugby Rules'. 65. Maguire, Global Sport, 144–75. 66. CitationSchaaf, 'Elite Pacific Male Rugby', 41–54.