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| Our gang in the stands |
Some of the crew of the superyachts in our marina organized the trip to Lautoka (a 45 minute drive from the marina in Denarau). Thirteen of us, including a few Fijian guys who are working on the yachts, piled into a comfortable van for the bumpy trip at $2 per head. We arrived a couple of hours before the 4:30 game as we were anticipating long lines and crowds. We need not have worried.
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| Tonga in red; Fiji in white |
Walking into Churchill Park in Lautoka, you feel like you’re entering an American high school stadium in a metropolitan city. Bench seats line the length sides while hillside seating provides cheap seats in the end zones. Having purchased our $10 ($6USD) tickets at the door, we sat in the covered seats at the “fifty yard line” (which doesn’t exist in rubgy but think of the equivalent in NFL). Our gang filed in an hour before the game and established ourselves behind the TV cameras (yes, this is a televised event). The stands gradually filled in until it was at capacity with people crowding the stairs as well as the seats. However, the benches opposite from us were only a quarter full and the hillside had just a smattering of families where young boys played their own rugby game with a plastic Coke bottle. For all the Rugby fans in Fiji, many still cannot afford to attend games or are at work on a Friday afternoon.
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| Fiji's number one fan |
An older Fijian woman waving a large Fijian flag sat just behind us, yelling her support and cracking up the crowd with her comments. “Wack ‘em! Wack ‘em!” was one of her chants. Most of her remarks were in Fijian so we unfortunately could not understand but we were humored by her animation nonetheless. We learned she’s an icon in Fijian Rugby. She is a long-time fan of the Flying Fijians, never misses a game and the team pays for her tickets. She’s the mom (grandma) that cheers on her boys no matter what the team status, what we would call a die-hard fan.
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| Fiji Warrior Dance |
From the start, you could see the unity of the team as they ran through plays, practiced kicks and ran sprints. As they left the field after energetic pre-game warm-ups, each man had a hand on the shoulder of the player in front of him. During the singing of both national anthems, the teams both stood with arms around each other’s shoulders. And then a real show of strength, unity and intimidation. The Fijian team formed a semi-circle facing the Tongan team and performed a warrior dance. The crowd roared as the players chanted in guttural Fijian and moved in unison with threatening fist punching, stamping and slaps. The Tongan team responded to the challenge with its own dance and then the crowd really went wild. You could feel the energy radiating from the field and it sucked you into the game from the get-go. The sense of team carried into the game. There were no showboats or stars – they were the epitome of team play.
What I really liked about Fijian Rugby is that it's all about the game. There are no souvenir stands, no cheerleaders, no TV time outs. The stands were quiet as all eyes followed every move on the field. I could hear the grunts and chatter of the players fifty yards away. I was entranced by the play because it never stopped. For two forty minutes halves, the players grind it out, non-stop. As I learned the game from a Fijian fellow sitting next to me, the game became more intriguing to watch. I felt myself become emotionally involved with the team as the play got more intense and I felt as if I was cheering on the Packers at home! So I was disappointed when Fiji lost the game (32-20). But they won the three game series because the team with the most total points of three games is the overall winner.
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| Tongans fans or Wisconsin Badger fans? |
If you include the chicken roti and beer, roundtrip transportation and center field game tickets, the total cost for the three of us to attend this event was around $40 USD. Compare that to a Viking-Packer game at the Metrodome. Talk about value for your entertainment dollar!
Posted by Ann
