Samoa wants £160K cut

[rowan]

Well, it was only one company, not the government in Beijing, and they made a big enough donation to help out the SRU in its hour of need. Can't fault them for that. Whatever else the Chinese are doing, they are not bombing people all over the world. My kind of people

[kk67]

Well, it was only one company, not the government in Beijing, and they made a big enough donation to help out the SRU in its hour of need. Can't fault them for that. Whatever else the Chinese are doing, they are not bombing people all over the world. My kind of people

That's fair.

[morepork]

what does "have a chip about Pacific Islanders mean"?? If you are in any way insinuating racism on my part, be assured I will fucking call you out on it you sanctimonious prick.

I choose to live in the US. Oh my God, that settles it. You have totally worked me out. Fuckhead. Where are you from superstar, and what's your deal?

[rowan]

Well, it was only one company, not the government in Beijing, and they made a big enough donation to help out the SRU in its hour of need. Can't fault them for that. Whatever else the Chinese are doing, they are not bombing people all over the world. My kind of people

That's fair.

Thanks, KK67. Good chatting

[Digby]

Well, it was only one company, not the government in Beijing, and they made a big enough donation to help out the SRU in its hour of need. Can't fault them for that. Whatever else the Chinese are doing, they are not bombing people all over the world. My kind of people

Expansionist and asset strippers, serial polluters, brutal suppressants of democracy, they certainly seem your kind of people

[rowan]

Well, it was only one company, not the government in Beijing, and they made a big enough donation to help out the SRU in its hour of need. Can't fault them for that. Whatever else the Chinese are doing, they are not bombing people all over the world. My kind of people

Expansionist and asset strippers, serial polluters, brutal suppressants of democracy, they certainly seem your kind of people

Looks like the hayseed chewing brigade is back with the Yellow Peril paranoia. Lay off the moonshine, bawgh! At least they haven't bombed over 70 countries since WWII and murdered upward of 20 million people.

[Digby]

Well, it was only one company, not the government in Beijing, and they made a big enough donation to help out the SRU in its hour of need. Can't fault them for that. Whatever else the Chinese are doing, they are not bombing people all over the world. My kind of people

Expansionist and asset strippers, serial polluters, brutal suppressants of democracy, they certainly seem your kind of people

Looks like the hayseed chewing brigade is back with the Yellow Peril paranoia. Lay off the moonshine, bawgh! At least they haven't bombed over 70 countries since WWII and murdered upward of 20 million people.

Still inspired by Trump to just make crap up I see. And yes other nations aren't all good, but I still don't know I'd look at the actions of Chinese authority and think that's the way to behave

[rowan]

Well, aside from your confusion over suffixing and failure to acknowledge the generosity of one construction company because they happen to be Chinese, I hardly think Operation Condor or its 21st century sequel were exactly designed to promote democracy, nor was the murder of enlightened African leaders such as Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Eduardo Mondlane, Amílcar Cabral, Steve Biko, Samora Machel and John Garang - and propping up brutal dictators in their place - and nor was the support for the Apartheid regime in South Africa and its ongoing mirror image in Israel, and let's not even get started with the medieval regime in Arabia, while reducing native populations to minorities and imposing democracy on them has nothing to do with freedom and a lot more to do with disenfranchisement and racial oppression.

[Digby]

Well, aside from your confusion over suffixing and failure to acknowledge the generosity .

So you'd like now to acknowledge the generosity of the RFU? I don't happen to think it that impressive so it feels odd to tip one's hat to the RFU, odder still though to acknowledge one donation and ignore another

[rowan]

But that has been acknowledged by the attention it is receiving here, and nobody has disparaged it. My only point has been that a percentage of the gate rather than a straightforward hand-out would provide more incentive to the Samoan team and withal allow them to retain a little more self-respect, as their cut would be based at least partly on their own marketability. That's not downplaying the RFU's contribution but merely analysing the method by comparison.The idea that England's offer has been ignored is ludicrous since it has been one of the central themes in this discussion all along (when discussion was permitted, that is).

[morepork]

Meat raffle?

[rowan]

The Samoan perspective:

In fact, it is a crime that the Northern Hemisphere countries have deliberately structured the rules around the organisation of the game to protect their own interests and pockets for years.

Many of us think that both Australia and New Zealand representatives could have applied much more pressure around the World Rugby boardroom table for fairness over the years but they too, were enjoying the fact they could cherry pick island players to bolster their sides and seemed reluctant to take a stronger stance.

So where does that leave us and other Pacific nations?

We believe some of the adverse publicity about the lack of money for smaller rugby playing countries has garnered a sympathetic hearing from rugby fans and players around the world.

Inherent unfairness is something most humans will respond to strongly and it appears that this is happening.

And isn’t the word ‘fair’ bandied around in sport from when children begin taking part as toddlers?

Perhaps the most extreme way to look at the situation of small island nations not getting a share of the gate takings in the sport of rugby where you must have two teams is to think the unthinkable and imagine the game of rugby without any Pacific players or teams.

Try that on for size and go back to the board room for another look at those rules.

http://sobserver.ws/en/13_11_2017/edito ... irness.htm

[Mellsblue]

This thread was very entertaining until we had the bollocks usually reserved for the politics thread that is a discussion about foreign policy.

Puja, take Rowan off ignore, don’t interact with him and just sit back and let the lols roll in. Unless, that is, he goes back to saying ‘kiss me if I’m wrong’. For your own sanity, put him straight back on ignore if he starts that up again.

[rowan]

Kiss me if I'm wrong, but some of the threads on the rugby forum will inevitably have a political edge to them. Trying to discuss the 2023 World Cup host, for example. Then it all just goes to pot . . .

[rowan]

The Samoan PM just compared Twickers to the Roman Coliseum . . .

The Chairman of the Samoa Rugby Union, Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, has compared World Rugby’s (W.R.) current gate sharing agreement to the “days of the Roman Coliseum.”

He has also rubbished claims there is “corruption” and “mismanagement” in the handling the bankrupt Union’s finances.

“When we tour England and play against their teams, the stadiums are at full capacity earning millions of pounds for the host Union and Manu Samoa gets hardly anything in return,” Tuilaepa said. “Why? The gate sharing since the amateur days is still current where the host Union takes all.

Smaller Unions like Manu Samoa, Tonga and Fiji are expected to play up to their standards to fatten their bank accounts at our expense.

“This is like being back again in the Roman Coliseum days where the entertainers are fed to the lions.

Samoa, Fiji and Tonga provide the entertainment.

If the gate sharing is not changed, the poorer unions cannot afford to continue on playing under these circumstances.”

Tuilaepa, who is also the Prime Minister, made the comparison in an interview with the state-owned Savali newspaper released by the Office of the Press Secretary.

It is in response to criticisms of the Samoa Rugby Union’s handling of finances, following Tuilaepa’s declaration that the Union is bankrupt.

Last week, a public appeal for help saw $400,000 pledged to aid Manu Samoa’s tour of the Northern Hemisphere.

During the interview, Tuilaepa shares a frank picture of the Union’s budget.

“You see our annual budget for this year is close to 11 million Samoan Tala.

The World Rugby funds only about 4.6 million Tala and S.R.U. bears the major balance of the budget from its own fundraisings which include sponsorships from our Government and two local companies."

“The deficit is funded by bank loans.

If these Commercial Banks were to call up payment, we have no choice but to fold up. Our loans are unsecured and we are operating from leased property owned by the Samoa Land Corporation."

“We have been dependent on bank financing for the last three years and the figures are available in our Annual Accounts which have clean audit opinions, copies of which have been submitted to W.R. for their records. So we are talking about hard real issues backed by our financial record.”

Tuilaepa also confirmed simmering tensions between the S.R.U. and World Rugby.

“First World Rugby was unhappy with the process taken by the Board where the Interview Panel recommended one candidate and the Board chose another.

For instance, Fuimaono Tafua our present Head Coach was not recommended by the Panel,” he said.

“Of the seven shortlisted candidates interviewed, the Panel overlooked Fuimaono who was the best of the applicants in terms of performance. Fuimaono was our Head Coach when Manu Samoa beat the Wallabies in 2011. The Wallabies then was one of the top two Tier 1 teams in the world."

“From the communications with W.R. their view is that the S.R.U. should only be a rubber stamp.

That is to approve whatever a Sub-Committee recommends. We disagreed.

“Indeed we attach importance to Coach Performance on the field.

In a small country where rugby is popular, the public is most vocal when its rugby team does not perform. And the Board has to bear all the bad publicity from the fans.

We are answerable to our public and sponsors who fund over 60% of our Budget."

“Many of our players do not fully understand the Coaches’ directives in English. Some of our expatriate appointees by the WR do not fully appreciate cultural practices of our players, which by tradition generate greater mental preparation for our players.

That is why the Board recommends other management appointees who are locals to help out.

There are many negative feedbacks that the Board has to try and resolve on many cultural matters beyond the understanding of W.R. officials."

“In Samoa nothing is secret in a small society.

A leakage is often hard to stop – Thus when the local papers published our decisions prematurely before we formally advise the W.R. of our decision, these are matters beyond our control, this is regrettable."

“Such is the world where the social media reigns supreme, a common feature of modern communications that is most active in small countries to survive due to paucity of news for their publications. Yet W.R. gives extraordinary attention to this issue of the news leakage to embarrass this Union."

Tuilaepa added that over the years, about 95per cent of the panelists’ recommendations are accepted by the Board.

“Only in exceptional circumstances that the recommendations are not accepted,” he said.

Asked critics who have raised suspicions about corruption and mismanagement within the Rugby Union, Tuilaepa rejected this.

“I have mentioned before that for the last three years our audited accounts had clean audit opinions,” he said.

“That is final proof as in any organization that our financial statements showed a true and fair view of the financial results and that proper accounting of the organizations financing have been kept."

“For these past three years of improved management and financial reforms, we have managed to pay all our expenses and fulfilled all our obligations to participate at W.R. sanctioned events, paid all the players allowances and have no more complaints.

World Rugby should be fully aware of these developments."

“It should be noted that our Board members are all volunteers. They do not receive any monetary payments for their services.

“We also have a small administration staff of seven employees only. In our preparation of the 2015 All Blacks/Manu Samoa Match in Apia, we could only allocate 5 full time staff working around the clock to make the Event successful – a factor which caused some surprise to the N.Z.R.U. officials whether we were serious.

“But what can we do with the kind of budget we operate on? In the end all the arrangements ran smoothly and the organization aspects were a great success.”

http://sobserver.ws/en/16_11_2017/regio ... %80%99.htm

[zer0]

What a load of tosh. The Colosseum was far fancier. Also put on a better show.

[Mellsblue]

I’d be happy if the idea of releasing Lions into the arena at Prince Harry’s request gained some traction.

[rowan]

I'd like to release Harry and the rest of his clan into that arena, personally...

[Digby]

I’d be happy if the idea of releasing Lions into the arena at Prince Harry’s request gained some traction.

Is Harry who you want to involve for a tinpot little pacific island? at most it seems an engagement for Edward

[Mellsblue]

I’d be happy if the idea of releasing Lions into the arena at Prince Harry’s request gained some traction.

Is Harry who you want to involve for a tinpot little pacific island? at most it seems an engagement for Edward

We could get Andrew involved. Might make those running the SRU look good in comparison.

[Digby]

I’d be happy if the idea of releasing Lions into the arena at Prince Harry’s request gained some traction.

Is Harry who you want to involve for a tinpot little pacific island? at most it seems an engagement for Edward

We could get Andrew involved. Might make those running the SRU look good in comparison.

Or Fergie

[rowan]

Fiji's Irish coach weighs in:

Fiji coach John McKee wants global rugby administrators to force through a gate-sharing revenue model to help tier two nations like his thrive.

The Samoa Rugby Union's bankruptcy announcement last week rippled through the sport, and McKee advocates for change.

He believes host unions should pay visiting sides an appearance fee to ensure wider benefits from the sell-out crowds such as on Saturday, when 51,000 will pack Lansdowne Road to watch Ireland play Fiji.

"When you look at the regulations of the game, it's almost as though they were formulated back in the amateurism days, and I don't think they've really moved on into the professional era for the tier two nations," McKee says.

"The big countries, there's a lot of reciprocal rights, and a lot of money is generated through broadcasting rights. We don't have any broadcasting rights.

"I understand the unions up here have costs as well, and they get a lot of their income out of these gates.

"But there needs to be some move there somewhere, where the host pays the visiting team some sort of an appearance fee.

"The stadium's sold out here tomorrow, the Pacific teams are always a big draw card, and the northern unions like playing them because the Pacific Islands teams are so entertaining.

"People will always come and watch Fiji because they know they will see exciting rugby."

Ireland has a 3-0 record against Fiji, all in Dublin. Ireland has never played Fiji in Fiji.

http://sobserver.ws/en/18_11_2017/rugby ... ier-2s.htm

[rowan]

Another twist to the Samoan saga:

World Rugby has disputed claims by the Chairman of the Samoa Rugby Union (S.R.U.) and Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi that the Union is bankrupt.

It has done so in a strongly worded statement issued in response to barrage of verbal attacks from Prime Minister Tuilaepa last week.

“Recent statements made by the chairman of the S.R.U questioning World Rugby’s funding package are inaccurate,” the statement reads.

“While the S.R.U’s failure to implement some jointly agreed high-performance initiatives in 2017 is a concern to World Rugby, it has resulted in a small amount of conditional investment being withheld.”

On the issue of the Union being “insolvent” as Prime Minister Tuilaepa said, World Rugby rejected this outright.

“World Rugby can clarify that the union is not bankrupt and would also like to clarify the inaccurate statements made by the S.R.U. Chairman relating to the selection of the national men’s 15s team coach.”

http://sobserver.ws/en/21_11_2017/rugby ... -claim.htm

[rowan]

Wow, lucky break for Samoa! That's about US$1.7 million

Bluesky Samoa has come to the rescue of Samoan rugby once more.

Last night at the official of the launch of Invest Samoa and Bluesky sponsorship of Manu Samoa Sevens 2017-2020 at Hotel Tanoa Tusitala, the company announced a $5million deal.

The deal over four years is a combination of cash and services.

The announcement was made by Bluesky Country Manager, Alex Abraham, during the same event where coach Sir Gordon Tietjens revealed his squad (see story in sports).

“Bluesky is indeed honoured to be the Major Sponsor of the Manu Samoa Sevens Team from now until 2020,” he said.

“This is a reflection of our continued commitment and support to develop sports in Samoa.

“Bluesky has had a long and fruitful relationship with S.R.U. and the Manu Samoa Sevens teams over the years.

“Our relationship commenced in 2013 when Bluesky came on board for the first time. From that time onwards we have worked tirelessly with SRU to grow the sport. We further extended our support and not with limitation by being a part of the first ever All Blacks game in 2015 and thereafter the Blue vs Reds game this year.

“We did not stop at that and carried on with supporting the Manu Samoa 15s whenever they played on our own soil.”

Mr. Abraham also highlighted the importance of keeping the faith in our teams, despite the recent results.

“Samoa bleeds blue and this is in our blood, it is the most loved sport. Even though the sport has had some bad times recently, we believe it is time to step in and invest in our beloved sport and team,” he said.

“It's not just about the players that go for each tournament. This sports talks to the future rugby stars of this country and it should inspire them to reach their potential and someday be able to wear the Blue Jersey in the global stage.”

According to Bluesky, the agreement is until 2020 during which time they will cover four seasons of the H.S.B.C. World Series / The Common wealth Games and the Sevens World cup next year.

“We are confident that the current S.R.U. management and the Sevens team under the guidance of Sir Gordon Tietjens, will perform well,” he said.

“The contracting of players is another sign of good governance to protect our players. In saying that, let's get together and support our young warriors to reach greater results.”


http://sobserver.ws/en/22_11_2017/rugby ... m-deal.htm

[rowan]

Happy Days!


An online fundraiser by the Pacific Rugby Players Welfare (P.R.P.W.) for Manu Samoa players has raised more than £10,000 (T$34,500).

The amount was confirmed in an update from former Manu Samoa captain and the man driving P.R.P.W., Daniel Leo.

“I’d personally like to thank more than 300 of you have helped raise over £10K for Manu Samoa players and families,” he wrote.

“Despite the ongoing challenges faced by Pacific and Tier 2 rugby teams, this proves that the core rugby values are alive and well! The page will remain open until Sunday the 2nd December after which all funds will be distributed directly to players. Faafetai tele lava and God bless!”

Following the Samoan Rugby Union bankruptcy announcement, the Pacific Rugby Players Welfare rallied to raise £150,000 to support Manu Samoa players.

Pacific Rugby Players Welfare is an independent not-for-profit organisation that supports professional and semi-professional players of Pacific Island heritage in the UK and Europe – enabling their ongoing success both on and off the field.

“Every penny raised by this fundraising activity will go direct to the players and their families.

Please support players & families by donating here:

https://www.justgiving.com/cr…/pacific- ... rs-welfare

www.pacificrugbywelfare.com is a fully transparent not-for-profit organisation based in the U.K. All proceeds will go directly to the players.

http://sobserver.ws/en/01_12_2017/rugby ... layers.htm