Word: zealander
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...Some fans think the Polynesian presence has made both rugby codes more exciting. Were the NRL's Islander contingent to up and leave overnight, "the game would be totally lost," says Richard Becht, an official with the NRL's New Zealand Warriors. "I guess we'd always have enough numbers, but the competition would become a throwback. In the power factor, in the entertainment factor, it would be markedly inferior." But nothing about sport is as simple as it looks. In New Zealand, where rugby is the national passion, the rise in Polynesian participation appears to be at least...
...size issue has led to calls in Australia for competitions to be structured by weight rather than age. Such competitions have been around for more than a decade in New Zealand, and the Australian Rugby League sent a delegation there in 2006 to research the concept. Junior Panthers executive Feltis was a member of that party. He returned keen to start a weight-based league west of Sydney, but couldn't get parents interested. Feltis theorizes that, despite the grumbling on the sidelines, the spirit of rugby league is that you play the man in front of you. If that...
...Polynesian players who've excelled through sheer power in junior football and paid the price in the big time. "They're used to scoring a lot of tries, being patted on the back by everyone and thinking they're bulletproof," says Price, who's now captain of the New Zealand Warriors. "But they get to senior football and come unstuck because they're suddenly up against guys every bit as big and as strong as they...
...Zealand, talent scouts swarm all over Manukau City, a poor region of Auckland with a large Polynesian population. It's a similar situation in pockets of Sydney and Brisbane, where mostly unskilled Maori and Islander migrants settled in significant numbers from the 1970s until recently, when Australian authorities tightened immigration laws. On both sides of the Tasman Sea, there's a sense that sports can offer a way out of poverty...
...Polynesian families, there is tremendous pressure on the eldest son especially to become a bread winner," says David Lakisa, the NSWRL's Pacific coaching and development officer. "They're using league as their meal ticket." Twelve years after his family left New Zealand for Sydney's west, both Willie Isa's parents work in factories to support their four children. "I want to ease their workload," says Isa, who aims to secure an NRL contract within two years. Says team-mate Penese: "Family comes first for me. Dad's been a taxi driver since we got here [16 years...