Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA): Rugby in ‘Our Sea of Islands’

Abstract

Epeli Hau‘ofa's influential essays ‘Our Sea of Islands’ and ‘The Ocean in Us’ advocated the development of an Oceanic identity for the peoples of the Pacific. That cause, he argued, was consistent with geography, history and the need for coordinated responses to navigate a globalising world. It was also consistent with contemporary regional trends, as evidenced by the rise of cultural, intergovernmental and sporting connections. Though Hau‘ofa did not specifically mention rugby, his work raises important implications for understanding the sport's growing regional possibilities. The following paper analyses the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) in the context outlined by Hau‘ofa. Founded in 2002, PIRA represented a coordinated response by the Fiji, Tonga and Samoa Rugby Unions to the rise of global professional rugby. PIRA's ‘Pacific Islanders’ team undertook tours to the Southern and Northern Hemispheres in 2004, 2006 and 2008 before the organisation's demise in 2009. The article focuses on the following questions: How did PIRA emerge as a regional response to global professional rugby? What were PIRA's goals and what challenges did it confront? How did PIRA incorporate three nations into a new Pacific Islanders ‘brand’? To what extent did PIRA embody the kind of regionalism espoused by Hau‘ofa?