Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

The big issue: unfairness, welfare and the myth of ‘poaching’ in Pacific Island rugby

By Jamie Wall
Manu Samoa perform the Siva Tau before their test against the All Blacks earlier this year

It’s the same depressing tale we hear every year: a Pacific Island nation tours, plays tests against tier one nations and the players receive a pittance in return. Add on to that the fact that Pacific Island rugby is beset with financial and administrative problems, plus a player drain that seems to be getting stronger every year to those very tier one nations that Fiji, Samoa and Tonga find themselves playing against.

ADVERTISEMENT

I spoke with 42-test Manu Samoa and Pacific Islander lock/loose forward Dan Leo, who also had a substantial career playing club rugby in England and France for the likes of Wasps, Perpignan and Bordeaux Begles, and now heads up Pacific Rugby Players Welfare. We talked about the issues facing island players both home and and abroad – and how we can maybe get to a stage where we’re not seeing the same old headlines.

Jamie Wall: So what are you up to nowadays?

Dan Leo: I’m based just north of London, and my job for the last two years has been establishing Pacific Rugby Players Welfare with other former players. It’s effectively a player’s union to lobby against some of the disparities that exist, but also providing strong welfare programmes for the 5-600 players of Pacific Island heritage that are here in the UK and Europe. It helps them deal with some of the issues that can arise when you’re playing here, away from your support base and communities.


If we’re going to grow the game we need a fairer share of that revenue that’s being generated by big games like this.


JW: So almost two years ago to the day you were walking into a meeting with World Rugby to talk about fairer revenue sharing. Now we’re seeing the same tale play out this week about how English players are getting around £22,000 each for their upcoming test match against Manu Samoa while the Samoan players are receiving around a tenth of that. What’s changed in those two years if we’re still hearing this?

DL: The sad story is I don’t really feel like there’s been any progress made in the last two years. In terms of the Samoan rugby union, they’ve done what they can do – but they’re a cash strapped union. We went in there and tried to force their hand to increase match payments from NZD $1,000 a week, which is nothing when you consider the £10 million or so that’s going to be made when Samoa play England at Twickenham. We got it increased to NZD $1200, but we’ve been pushing for a much stronger and fairer revenue sharing model.

ADVERTISEMENT

At the moment the model is based on a very old, almost prehistoric, agreement where the home unions get to keep 100 per cent of their gate takings. In theory that’s then reciprocated. The issue we have is that England has never come out to Samoa, Tonga or Fiji. Their argument would be that they’d just like to play the All Blacks every game. Rugby is a business, I understand that, but if we’re going to grow the game we need a fairer share of that revenue that’s being generated by big games like this.

JW: You tweeted support for World Rugby’s Agustin Pichot, who came out and said that the revenue sharing situation is ‘wrong’, even going to say that ‘I can’t bullshit you’…which makes it obvious that this is a widely known problem. Do you feel like they’re aware of it and consciously trying to do something about it?

DL: Oh they’re definitely aware of it. I guess Pichot is our ‘breath of fresh air’ in that organisation and he calls a spade a spade. Whether anyone’s going to do something about it, that’s the question. As you said, this comes up up every November when a Pacific Island team plays up here – but it’s only an issue for that one week then it all goes quiet again till the next year. It’s a difficult situation and there’s a lot of politics in play, but at the end of the day we need someone to dip their hand in their pocket and say ‘we’re prepared to take a little bit less’ for the benefit of these smaller countries and the world game.


No one wants to be the ones to dip their hand into their pockets – so we’re stagnating as a sport.

ADVERTISEMENT

JW: You mentioned before that the host unions take 100 per cent of the gate takings. What NZ Rugby, at least, has said is that they have to in order to make home tests profitable? Do you buy that?

DL: No, I don’t buy that at all. The issue I see is that those top, tier one nations are so protective of keeping their share of the pie. Our argument is that if you make that pie bigger then collectively the same piece will be worth more. We need to invest in the growth of the game, but that investment has to come from somewhere. It’ll take short term sacrifice for long term gain, but at the moment no one wants to be the ones to dip their hand into their pockets – so we’re stagnating as a sport.

JW: There’s been a lot of criticism of the way Samoan rugby is run. Is that still an issue?

DL: Governance remains an issue. We haven’t been the best at times, the mismanagement and corruption that is associated with Pacific Island rugby is a lot to do with what’s holding us back. My argument, or at least suspicion, is that the powers that be are happy to see us stumble with the crumbs that they give us because it justifies not having to give anything back into Pacific Island rugby.

If we can sort that out and cut out that excuse, that’ll be a massive step forward. There’s the old saying: ‘if you give a man a fish he’ll eat for a day, but if you teach him to fish he’ll eat for a lifetime.’ At the moment I’m not convinced that World Rugby really want us to learn how to fish and be able to thrive.


It comes up all the time, but I don’t believe there’s such a thing as poaching in rugby.


JW: A lot of the blame for the predicament of Pacific Island rugby, from the northern media at least, gets levelled at New Zealand around ‘poaching’ players. Do you think that’s a fair assessment?

DL: It comes up all the time, but I don’t believe there’s such a thing as poaching in rugby. It’s more market forces. I know in our community, guys make decisions to play for the All Blacks or France or whoever based on financial reasons. 99.9 per cent of guys who I meet over here playing pro or semi-pro, their number one goal is to provide food and living needs for their families and communities back home.

If you give them the best contract, that’s where they’re going to. Decisions based on allegiances to one’s country are being made secondary, but that’s because of a lack of a credible pathway back home in the Pacific. That’s what needs to be assessed, if that was a reality then they’d be playing for the Pacific Islands. But at the moment, we have to leave the islands to make a living, and so after three years of playing in New Zealand or England and to have the carrot of potentially earning £22,000 a game, it’s a very hard offer to turn down when you’ve got family living in a shack back at home.

People say it’s poaching, but I’m yet to come across any examples where the boundary gets blurred – except the obviously illegal French academies being set up in Fiji. Again though, as an organisation we’re here to support players, however they come to making the decision to play in Europe. We say ‘hey look, rugby is a finite career, you’ve only got a short time to make a decent living’. For us as Pacific Islanders, with the way World Rugby is structured right now, that means making the decision not to play for our test sides. Not just because of financial issues, but organisational and structural ones too – although I’m happy to see Fiji and Tonga buck that trend lately.

JW: Exactly what is going on with those French academies in Fiji and what makes them illegal?

DL: This is black and white for me. World Rugby regulations state that you’re not allowed to have any academies outside of the physical boundaries of your nation, so how we’ve got French academies in Fiji boggles the mind really. We think that there’s some sort of transaction going on there, we can’t prove that but all the fingers point in that direction really.

We don’t hold it against the Fijian players who have gone on to play for France, but if we really want it to be a world game then these are the little areas that need to be ironed out. Taking players out of Fiji isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s got to be made sustainable. There needs to be some sort of investment into the next level, which I don’t see happening at the moment.

JW: Lately we’ve seen Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita turn their backs on the Kiwi and Kangaroo rugby league teams respectively, do you see this as a sign that some Pacific Island players are now more financially secure and able to make their own decisions? I know it’s a different sport, but it still sends a pretty powerful message to kids out there about the choices they have once they’ve got a bit of money in their pocket.

DL: Yeah definitely. These top line guys aren’t making decisions based on financial pressure anymore, so they’re free to make one based on who they consider themselves to be. Yes, they’re raised in New Zealand and Australia, but they see themselves as Tongan. I think that’s a great thing, I’d love to see that in rugby.

We’ve got guys over here that made a decision to play for the All Blacks or even the All Black Sevens for a couple of caps, then they’re lost to the system. An example is Robbie Fruean, who played a game for NZ ‘A’ 10 years ago, and that’s locked him in and he can never give back to his country of heritage. I think that’s a real shame. I’m not saying rugby league has got it right regarding eligibility, but at least I feel like they want to work with the Pacific Island guys to give back – which I can only see as a positive.

JW: So do you think if there is going to be a decent overhaul of the current situation, it should be player-led? Because from an administrative view we just seem to be going round in circles with these stories. How difficult will that be given that you’re more or less putting your livelihood in someone else’s hands if you go down that route?

DL: There’s always power in numbers, which is why player’s unions exist. If the administrators aren’t up to the task, then you need to look at alternative action. The English player’s association right now is talking about a player-led action if the global season is to be extended, because the clubs here are putting pressure on players to play even longer. So there’s all sorts of different issues affecting the game.

Part of what we’re doing at Pacific Rugby Players Welfare is making sure players have that independent voice. For me, it has to be a collective effort. The biggest voice in all of this, of course, is the public. I have a lot of faith in the rugby public, there’s so much good faith out there for the Pacific Islands and the players – every true rugby supporter I meet wants to see Pacific Island rugby thrive, and unions and governing bodies should be reflective of what the public wants to see.

Pacific Island rugby brings so much to the world game, it’s be sad to see an institution like it fade away because people weren’t aware of the issues.

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

28 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

28 Go to comments
T
Trevor 10 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING 'It's an All Black discussion': The pair of young Hurricanes tipped for black jerseys The pair of young Hurricanes tipped for black jerseys
Search