Post-retirement blues in the shadow of Joe Tubuna: the post-retirement struggles of Fiji’s indigenous soccer elite

Abstract

This article uses the qualitative ‘narrative analysis’ method to explore and reflect upon the post-retirement issues faced by a small sample of Fiji elite ex-national-league soccer players. The sample consists of one Indo-Fijian and six indigenous Fijians. All experience lives of practical poverty and, for the indigenous men, their lives are defined by village customary routines and obligations. Perhaps surprisingly, the experiences of the Indo-Fijian ex-player are not too dissimilar because he shares social-class affiliation with his interviewed ex-teammates. The bonds between these ex-players remain strong and the ex-legend Joe Tubuna, killed in a motor-vehicle accident in 1984, still casts a presence which links them to the past, to the land, and to each other via the medium of shared localized memories.

Keywords:

• Cultural hegemony
• Fiji history
• Fiji Islands
• Fiji soccer
• race and class
• salvaged self

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Mr Bobby Tikaram, Anare Tuidraki, Jack Sugden, two anonymous reviewers, all our interviewees, and Ambassadador Kamlesh Arya of the University of Fiji.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. On behalf of all co-authors I declare that we have no conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise. There are no external funding sources to report for this submission.

Dedication

This article is dedicated to the late, great Joe Tubuna, his widow, and children.

Notes

1 World Population Review (2020) lists indigenous Fijians as 54% and Indo-Fijians (Fijians of South Asian descent) as 38% out of a total population of 896,853. At the 2007 Census date, the ethnic make-up of Fiji was: Indigenous Fijians 56.8%, Indo-Fijians 37.5%, Rotumans 1.2%, and Others 4.5% including Europeans, part-Europeans, other Pacific Islanders, and Chinese (source: CIA World Fact Book Online). Most Indo-Fijians are descendants of the indentured-labourers brought from India to Fiji by the British between 1879 and 1916 to work on the sugar-cane plantations (Luker 2005, 360, 367).

2 ‘Part-European’ is a left-over category from colonial-era statistics. Indigenous Fijian is the reference-point and so ‘part-Chinese’, for example, refers to mixed Chinese and indigenous Fijian heritage. The indigenous part is left unsaid here and is assumed. The same applies to ‘part-European’. There is another term, ‘kailoma’, which is used to refer to people who were born in Fiji from mixed races.

3 Harry Cartwright self-identifies as both indigenous Fijian and part-European.

4 Although the Fiji national-league was essentially amateur in the 1980s, the Fiji soccer historian Mohit Prasad claims that the elite game was ‘semi-professional’ by 1999 (Prasad 2013, 100, 165).

5 For a history of the Chinese in Fiji see Ali (2002).

6 In the Fijian language, na ivakarau ni bula vakaviti, ‘the indigenous Fijian way of life’ and vakavanua, ‘tradition’ and ‘customs’.

7 This is the British terminology. The American, Australian, and Fijian term is ‘head-coach’.

8 The word ‘now’ occurs because we were discussing, at that stage of the interview, why the indigenous players seem unable to get managerial or coaching jobs at present. In a way, Murali was sticking to the topic of the question. He may be alluding to the general bonhomie and inclusiveness in the game in the previous era which has been partly lost today where ‘business-world’ attitudes and behaviours have permeated the running of the sport to a greater extent than before. So there were still unequal opportunities before but the charitable mood of the association teams (being run like other Indian-controlled institutions like schools or religious institutions to some extent) tended to offset the effects of that. People are used to the benevolently paternal nature of Indian-controlled schools and religious institutions and many indigenous students are more than happy to attend these schools. This is speculation and we would not want to impute thoughts to Murali which he does not have.

9 Yes, the experience of Western/highly-paid professionals after retirement is worlds apart. But they still have to salvage themselves and make peace with the rapid decline of power, influence, and attention. The romanticized past is a feature of this also. So while there are not clear parallels in terms of wealth, there certainly are in terms of consciousness. The ex-Rangers and Aston Villa player, Mark Walters, was quoted on this point in the Scottish press this year, and he argued that more should be done to help retired players make the transition.