Collective identity and contested allegiance: a case of migrant professional Fijian rugby players

Abstract

Rugby is widely regarded as Fiji's ‘national’ sport and Fijian athletes are a prominent global presence in professional rugby today. Despite such prominence of Fijian athletes in professional rugby and the social, economic and symbolic significance of the sport in Fiji, there is a near absence of academic research on Fijian rugby migration. As Fiji has been deeply implicated in the interests and discourses of colonialism, ethno-nationalism and masculinity, the aim of this study is to explore professional rugby migration and international competitions as a context for collective identification by focusing on the interview-generated voices of rugby migrants as well as popular media discourses. In doing so, we aim to provide an insight into the multiple dimensions of sport labour migration from the point of view of a developing society that supplies sport labour across the globe. Our analysis will highlight the complex and contested nature of rugby migration as it is experienced and viewed by emigrant players and the Fiji public with a specific focus on the tension between core and periphery dimensions which surfaces at times of international competition such as the Rugby World Cup.

Notes

^1.Fiji Rugby Union, ‘Fiji Rugby Union’.

^2. Guinness, ‘Rugby Dream’, 16.

^3.Cattermole, ‘We Are Fiji’, 99.

^4. Ibid., Guinness, ‘Rugby Dream’.

^5. Gallagher, ‘About Rugby’.

^6.Pacific Islands News Association, ‘Rugby Contracts Bring in Revenue for Fiji’.

^7.Bellos, Futebol.

^8. Guinness, ‘The Rugby Dream’.

^9. Ibid., 91.

^10. Cattermole, ‘We Are Fiji’.

^11. Grainger, ‘Browning of the All Blacks’.

^12.Bale, Brawn Drain.

^13. Grainger, ‘Browning of the All Blacks’.

^14.Block, Multilingual Identities in a Global City.

^15. Rugby migration may be usefully studied with attention being paid to its dimension as signification, where individuals and groups derive particular meanings from it, especially in relation to their collective self-definition.

^16. Guinness, ‘Rugby Dream’; Presterudstuen, ‘Mimicry of Men’.

^17.Frank, ‘Development of Underdevelopment’; Wallerstein, Introduction to World-Systems Analysis.

^18. The International Rugby Board member unions are categorized into six tiers according to playing strength and potential. Tier 1 nations are identified as Argentina, Australia, England, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Wales; Tier 2 unions are Canada, Fiji, Japan, Romania, Samoa, Tonga and the USA (International Rugby Union, IRB Strategic Plan).

^19. Extracts from the interviews are indicated by inverted commas in the text. They are quoted in the exact forms as recorded in the interview transcripts except for minor alterations made for editing purposes.

^20.Patton, Qualitative Evaluation.

^21. It may be noted that both authors are foreigners to Fiji: one is a Hungarian based in a UK university, while the other, the main interviewer, is a Japanese who has lived in Fiji for 16 years.

^22. Although Fiji is currently under military rule, which restricts the freedom of speech, it is our view that this did not limit the interviewees' ability to discuss their views and experiences in relation to sporting matters to the extent of seriously distorting the findings of the study. During the interviews, the interviewer did not detect politically related reservation or anxiety on the part of the interviewees. The interview questions did not relate directly to national politics.

^23.Singleton and Straits, Approaches to Social Research.

^24.International Monetary Fund, ‘World Economic Outlook Database’.

^25.Naidu, ‘Draft Report Fiji Islands Country Profile on Excluded Groups’; United Nations Development Programme, ‘Fiji: Country Profile of Human Development Indicators’.

^26.Fiji Rugby Union, ‘History’; Dewey, ‘Pacific Islands rugby’.

^27. Ibid.

^28.Waqa, ‘Personal communication’.

^29. Dewey, ‘Pacific Islands Rugby’, 86.

^30. Arthur Jennings was the first Fiji-born athlete to be selected into the All Blacks in 1967, followed by Bernie Fraser in 1979, but both migrated to New Zealand at a young age, not for employment purposes (Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions, ‘The first Island men to play for the All Blacks’).

^31.Gallagher, ‘About Rugby’.

^32.Tilly, ‘Transplanted Networks’.

^33. Guinness, ‘Rugby Dream’.

^34. , ‘Blade Runners’; Magee and Sugden, ‘World at Their Feet’; and Molnar and Maguire, ‘Hungarian Footballers on the Move’.

^35. This finding concurs with Zakus and Horton's (2009) observation.

^36.Klein, Sugarball; Maguire, ‘Global Sport’; Molnar, Mapping Migrations; and Molnar, ‘From the Soviet Bloc to the European Community’.

^37. Guinness, ‘Rugby Dream’, 49–50.

^38.Connell, Migration in Pacific Island Countries and Territories, 35–6.

^39. Naidu, ‘Draft Report’.

^40. Ibid.

^41.Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics, 2007 Census of Population and Housing.

^42.Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics, ‘Household Income and Expenditure’.

^43. Pacific Islands News Association, ‘Rugby Contracts Bring in Revenue for Fiji’.

^44.Paul, ‘Rugby’.

^45.Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics, Fiji Facts.

^46. The Fiji Times ‘Notebook’, October 29, 2011.

^47. Gallagher, ‘About Rugby’.

^48.Mohanty, ‘Globalisation’.

^49. Narsey, ‘In Search of Rugby's Level Playing Field’. The Fiji Times, October 6, 2007, http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=71865 (accessed January 23, 2012); Pacific Nations Rugby, ‘Hard-up Samoa hope World Cup shows the Money’; The Fiji Times ‘Rugby Hit Hard’, March 19, 2009; The Canadian Press, ‘42 Days Out, Fiji Still Without a Major Sponsor for Rugby World Cup’. July 28, 2011, http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/other/42-days-out-fiji-still-without-amajor-sponsor-for-rugby-world-cup.html?viewAllComments=y (accessed October 17, 2011); and Dewey, ‘Pacific Islands Rugby’, 97.

^50.Pacific Islands News Association, ‘Flying Fijians Team Sponsor Unlikely’.

^51. Narsey, ‘In Search of Rugby's Level Playing Field’; Dewey, ‘Pacific Islands Rugby’, 97.

^52.Planet-Rugby.com 2003, ‘Caucau Turns His Back on Fiji’, brackets original.

^53. See IRB Regulation 8: Eligibility to Play For National Representative Teams; Dewey, ‘Pacific Islands Rugby’, 95.

^54.BBC, ‘Rugby World Cup 2011’; Seed, ‘Sport Today’.

^55.Narsey, ‘Sport’.

^56. BBC, ‘Rugby World Cup 2011’.

^57. Field, M. ‘Rugby Blackbirders Snatching Island Boys: It's Gross Exploitation of the South Pacific’, Pacific Magazine August 1, 2003; The Sydney Morning Herald. ‘Pacific's Brawn Drain is World Rugby's Gain’.

^58.Roar, ‘Tonga PM Blasts “Unfair” World Cup’.

^59. Bale, Brawn Drain.

^60.Andreff, ‘Sport in Developing Countries’; Connor and Griffin, The Muscle Trade.

^61. Wallerstein, Introduction to World-Systems Analysis.

^62. Bale, The Brawn Drain; Maguire et al., Sport Worlds.

^63. Maguire et al., Sport Worlds.

^64. See Ahlburg and Levin, North East Passage; Connell, ‘Migration in Pacific Island Countries’; ‘Migration of Skilled Health Workers’; Connell ‘Migration, Dependency’; Voigt-Graf, ‘Fijian Teachers on the Move’, Voigt-Graf, ‘Pacific Islanders’.

^65.Bale and Sang, Kenyan Running, 105.

^66.Immigration New Zealand, ‘Sanctions against Fiji’; Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Government of Australia, ‘Australia's Autonomous Sanctions’.

^67.Radio New Zealand International, ‘Fiji Rugby Union Sevens’.

^68. In 2007, Alefoso Yalayalatabua and assistant manager Semi Rogoyawa were denied visa to enter Australia for a test match against the Wallabies due to their involvement in the military. In 2010, Alefoso Yalayalatabua and Nikola Matawalu were not allowed entry into Australia to participate in a test match for the same reason (Radio New Zealand International, ‘Visa Woes Prompts Fiji Rugby Team Rejig’). In 2011, Dale Tonawai, Nikola Matawalu and Waqabaca Kotobalvu were denied visa to travel to Australia for the Adelaide 7s tournament (Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, ‘Fiji Won't Play in Aust’).

^69. Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, ‘Fiji won't play in Aust’; Pacific Islands News Association, ‘Relocate NZ’; Pacific Islands News Association, ‘Fiji 7s Rugby May Pull out of Adelaide 7s’.

^70.Pacific Islands News Association, ‘Fiji to Contest World Cup Despite Military Ban’.

^71.New Zealand Visa Bureau, ‘Fiji Rugby Union to lodge complaint over NZ visa rejection’; Universal Sports, ‘IRB Threatens to Expel Fiji’; and Fijilive, ‘Leaving Military was Hard’.

^72.Grainger, ‘The Browning of the All Blacks’, 366, brackets added.

^73. Narsey, ‘In Search of Rugby's Level Playing Field’.

^74. Nicky Little, quoted in Clutton, ‘Nicky Little Revels in Fiji's Big Win’.

^75.Hildebrand, ‘Passports to glory’.

^76.Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, ‘$3m for Fiji Rugby World Cup exhausted’.

^77. Grainger, ‘The Browning of the All Blacks’, 367.

^78.TVNZ. ‘All Blacks Get $100k Bonus for World Cup Win’.

^79.The Guardian, ‘Rugby World Cup 2011’.

^80. Biumaiono, S. ‘Caucau Bids for Kiwi Jumper’. The Fiji Times, November 27, 2003, 48.

^81.Guinness, ‘The Rugby Dream’, 36.

^82.Pacific Islands News Association, ‘Fiji Rugby Union Reaffirms Stand on RWC 2011 Duties’.

^83. See Moran, ‘Timeline’.

^84. The Fiji Commerce Commission found, among other things, that the lottery was to have raised over F$350,000 but that F$155,743 was unaccounted for. The mismanagement contributed to the FRU's deficit of F$227,000 in 2010 (Fiji Commerce Commission, Press Statement; FRU, Annual Report 2010).

^85.Pacific Islands News Association, ‘Fiji Rugby Union Faces Ejection from Rugby World Cup’.

^86. Grainger, ‘The Browning of the All Blacks’, 344; Dewey, ‘Pacific Islands Rugby’, 95.

^87.The New York Times, ‘Turmoil at Home Has Fiji Team in Fight to Make It to Rugby World Cup’.

^88. Grainger, ‘The Browning of the All Blacks’, 342; Dewey ‘Pacific Islands Rugby’, 95.

^89. Charlie Charters, quoted in ABC Radio National, ‘The Sports Factor’.

^90.BBC, ‘Caucau Quits Fiji’.

^91. Singh, I. ‘Money Luring Reps Overseas’. The Fiji Times, November 15, 2003, 76.

^92.Anonymous, ‘Coup Four’, brackets added.

^93. Guinness, ‘The Rugby Dream’, 13.

^94.Hinton, ‘No Ordinary Joe’, brackets added.

^95. The Fiji Times ‘Rival Wingers Make Fiji Proud’, November 15, 2003.

^96. The Fiji Times ‘Tuqiri Shines on the Field’, December 2, 2003.

^97. The Fiji Times, ‘Super Samo – Letter to the Editor’, October 10, 2011.

^98.Mai Life, 54 November 2011.

^99. The Fiji Times, ‘Keep the Dream Alive – Letter to the Editor’, October 20, 2011.

^100. The Fiji Times ‘Samo's Super Try – Letter to the Editor’, October 31, 2011.

^101. The Fiji Times ‘Not Role Models – Letter to the editor’, December 3, 2003.

^102. The Fiji Times ‘For Caucau – Letter to the Editor’, June 16, 2009.

^103.Mortimer, ‘Fiji's Overseas Players Dominate End of Year Squad’.

^104. Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, ‘$3m for Fiji Rugby World Cup exhausted’; The Fiji Times ‘Gavoka: We Failed at Rugby World Cup’, October 2, 2011; and Kumar, R. ‘Koli Points out Flaws’, The Fiji Times, September 29, 2011).

^105. The Fiji Times, ‘Selection Policy – Letter to the Editor’, October 7, 2011.

^106. The Fiji Times, ‘Lament of a Fan – Letter to the Editor’, October 10, 2011.

^107. The Fiji Times, ‘Unfair Selection – Letter to the Editor’, October 10, 2011.

^108.Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, ‘FRU Board Discovers Overseas Reps Wasted RWC Resources’.

^109. The Fiji Times, ‘$3m Reasons for Clean-up’, October 29, 2011.

^110.Needham, Using the Master's Tools, 32.