Pacific Islanders in Global Rugby: The Changing Currents of Sports Migration

Abstract

The newly emergent Pasifika1 diasporas as elements of a new sports labour migrant are an important force of immense significance in global rugby football. This paper illustrates the place of rugby in Pasifika communities and how and why it has become a zone of potential success, aspiration and social advancement for Pasifika people. An impression is given of the enormity of their range and influence in the sport using illustrations drawn from the ranks of current Pacific professional rugby players. The complex relationship among Pacific Islanders, globalisation and rugby football will also be discussed demonstrating not merely the issue of Pasifika communities as recipients of the cultural effects of globalisation via imperial rule and cultural diffusion, but also of their impact as creolising agents on the sport of rugby throughout the mid twentieth century to the current professional era. Throughout this discussion it is noted that rugby is seen as a means not just of individual advancement but as a potential source of financial security for players' families and their wider communities in the Pacific Islands and in their adopted countries. The vexatious issue of remittances, responsibility and rugby as a major career pathway is also raised. 1. It must be acknowledged at the outset that the term ‘Pasifika’ is somewhat problematic. ‘Pasifika’, as a Polynesian way of saying ‘Pacific’, should technically be used as an adjective. However, ‘Pasifika’ is primarily used to refer to Pacific people in the diaspora, and the usage varies from New Zealand to Australia. In this paper, the inclusion of Mãori under the umbrella term ‘Pasifika’ has been avoided. Every effort has also been made to correctly use relevant anthropological/scientific terms such as Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian.