Page 30 - IB OCT 2017

Sports World Cup NRL stars boost Bati’s Inside Story What led the king to dis-
solve Tonga’s Parliament
chances for global showdown P33
From Page 29 the Rio Olympics, indications are that this is 2500 Fijian dollars’.
Securing a professional contract in Fiji, exploitation can only worsen, with union “When there’s no employment that
where the minimum wage is $2.68 an now competing with league and Aussie would be a lot of money in Fiji. So they sign
hour, is seen as a way out of povery to Rules to find the next superstar who can it straight away for three years and off they
unimaginable riches. be signed up cheaply. go. Once they are in France they realise
For a select few such as Semesa “It is like a gold rush where they have to pay for tax, they have to pay
Rokoduguni and Nathan Hughes, Fijian players are the goldmines,” accommodation, they have to eat. By the
who earned £22,000 ($F60,061) Seremaia Bai, the Fijian kicking end of the month they will be lucky if they
for representing England against coach, said in an interview with have ›€200 ($F478) . They are stuck there
the country of their birth last No- the Telegraph. month after month after month because of
vember, it can turn out that way. “Everybody knows what we this contract. Then they really struggle.”
NRL star Semi Radradra joins can do. We are the cheap labour. Some agents skim up to 50 per cent
these elite group with a report- The clubs know this. They know off a client’s wages, but when things do
ed annual pay of ›€312,695 Tragic end ... Temo how we roll. None of us have go wrong “they suddenly become un-
($F751,978.53) with Bordeaux any jobs in the island so playing contactable”. “The sad thing is as soon
in the new season, dwarfing his reported professional rugby is an opportunity of as the player is in trouble and they try
NRL salary of $A375,000 ($F599,891) a lifetime. When you give them ›€1000 to call the agent, he doesn’t pick up and
with the Parramatta Eels. ($F2401) boys go ‘wow’ but the clubs are the player feels lost,” Bai said. “They are
That is unrepresentative of the experi- laughing. They can buy 10 Fijian players straight from the village with nothing to
ence for the majority of the estimated 500 for one All Black player. That is not fair.” their name.”
Pacific Island players in Europe, based Tabua, whose rugby stint in Australia Former All Black Charles Charles Piutau,
mainly in France, who make up about 18 ended with an illustrious career with the who became the world’s highest-paid
per cent of the world’s professional rugby Wallabies, said with new opportunities player when championship side Bristol
players. in a foreign country, come new smashed English Premiership records in
Like Temo and the other hun- challanges such as cultural is- a £1million($F2.73m) per season deal,
dreds of islanders plying their sues, loneliness and financial said he decided to move to the Northern
rugby in Europe, Radradra sup- pressures. Hemisphere for the sake of his family.
ports his family in his village. He counts himself lucky “But when it comes to a place when you
His proud father, Samisoni enough to have enjoyed his can provide for your family and there’s a
Waqa, said his son had had a rugby Down Under since going better opportunity, it was an easy deci-
troubled career, having endured Big move ... Radradra there at the age of 17. sion. I’ll always choose my family over
media scrutiny over his court case “I was fortunate my older anything else.”
after being charged with domestic violence, brothers lived there and were married to Piutau, a utility back who first played for
of which he was later cleared of. Australians and had friends who had the the Tongan U20, leaving for New Zealand
Now happily married, his dad said the same experience. Life around them helped where he won 16 caps for the All Blacks
star was looking forward to doing what he me in my transition. I went because it was before joining Irish province Ulster via a
loved best upon his return to rugby union. an opportunity to further my knowledge, dazzling season at Wasps, is to join Bris-
Tabua said wherever a Pacific Island my education, sports and life overall. I had tol at the start of the new season having
player ends up, they will be expected to a good support network in the family, the signed a two-year deal.
support their family and sometimes their community and the church so my welfare Piutau joins older brother Siale at Bristol,
entire village. It is common for players to was paramount.” coached by former Samoan and All Black
send home 75 per cent of their wages in re- Bai ,who enjoyed a 16-year career as player Pat Lam. He has also taken a place
mittances. That can place a huge a professional that finished with on the board of Pacific Rugby Players’
strain on an individual who finds Leicester Tigers at the end of Welfare, the organisation which aims to
himself in an alien environment 2015, shared similar sentiments. further the interests of Pacific Islanders
unable to grasp the language or Today, as a board member of based in Europe.
culture. the Pacific Island Players’ As- “Joining PRPW is a chance for me hope-
“It is a big thing not just in Fiji,” sociation (PIPA), he is trying to fully to give back to the Pacific Islands
Tabua said. “Their family think pass on that experience, but he community in a small way,” he said.
they will fund them but it is tough admits that naivety is widespread “For players to know they have a sup-
for the boys. Sometimes the fam- Tabua ...concerned among Pacific Island players. “At port network and a voice when playing in
ily needs to realise they need to times our mindset in the islands Europe, I think that’s important.”
step back and let them get settled first so is that you cannot say no,” Bai said. “The In the absence of any direct family, it of-
they can get set up. There have been a few alternative is unemployment so when an ten falls upon other Pacific Islander players
suicides by Islander players in Australian agent comes along and gives them a piece to offer support to fresh arrivals.
rugby league because of that pressure.” of paper, they just sign without reading. PRPW, which launched in France in Sep-
This problem is compounded by the For them it is their way out of the Islands. tember, has been trying to rally all Pacific
abhorrent behaviour of certain agents and They just want a better life so they don’t players together.
clubs who capitalise on the desperation of care what’s written on the contract. When It said given the number of tragedies
Pacific Islanders to seek a better life for they hear the salary of ›€1000 a month, affecting Polynesian players of late, many
themselves and their family. the first thing that comes to their mind is of which have been well documented in the
Since Fiji won the sevens gold medal at the exchange rate so they think, ‘Wow, this media, from contractual disputes and finan-

30 Islands Business, October 2017