"Is it a fair game? Good question."
It's a story about rugby and some of the best players the game has ever seen. Coming Soon on Apple podcasts, iHeart, Spotify, Pacific Media Network and at RNZ.co.nz.
Fans before the rugby match between Maori All Blacks v Moana Pasifika. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2020 www.photosport.nz
Pacific Islands rugby players are celebrated around the globe for their passion, flair and the physical commitment they bring to the game.
James Nokise, producer, writer and host of Fair Game: Pacific Rugby Against the World. Photo: Supplied
The Rugby World Cup in 2019 saw eleven out of the twenty teams fielding players of Pacific heritage - who made up more than 20% of the numbers taking the field at the competition.
But it's also about fairness
Despite their huge contribution to playing numbers, the three Pacific Island teams at the world cup - Tonga, Samoa and Fiji - all performed below their own expectations. The gap between them and the top tier is widening, while relative newcomers like Japan - bolstered by players of Pacific heritage - appear to have overtaken them.
These nations have less than 4% representation when it came to making the big decisions affecting their national teams.The reasons for this are complex but some of them are deeply disturbing. This isn’t just about rugby:
It's about power and race and how a web of self-dealing and privilege appears to work against the people of three important nations in the South Pacific.
John Daniell, producer, writer and host of Fair Game: Pacific Rugby Against the World Photo: Cole Eastham-Farrelly
It’s also about corruption, culture, and both the ties that bind and the tensions between the Pacific diaspora and their homelands.
Over six episodes "Fair Game: Pacific Rugby Against the World" will weave several threads together around the central quest to understand how the Pacific nations are consistently undermined:
There are the challenges faced by young players from the islands seeking to improve their opportunities in schools and professional outfits in New Zealand, Europe and Japan.
The podcast will also look at the successes and difficulties of former players who have trodden that path before them and their frustration with a system that feels rigged.
Then there are the issues around media and institutions like World Rugby and the national unions themselves.
Samoan/Welsh/New Zealand comedian James Nokise and journalists John Daniell and Talei Anderson talk to players, rugby bosses and sports writers across the pacific, from Auckland to Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
Talei Anderson, producer, writer and host of Fair Game: Pacific Rugby Against the World Photo: RNZ
They dig in to the history of Pacific Island rugby which has given so much to the game and got so little back.
They'll ask: If you have a game where the rules favour one set of teams over another - is that game fair?
Fair Game: Pacific Rugby against the World.
Made with the support of New Zealand on Air.
Coming soon on Apple podcasts, iHeart, Spotify, PMN and at RNZ.co.nz.
Photo: NZ On Air
Photo: Supplied
Photo: RNZ
