A League Away: Exploiting Mate Ma'a Tonga

The contribution of Maori and Pasifika to both rugby codes is well known. Take them out of the Kiwi and Wallabies teams and who do you have left?  The Tonga team Mate Ma'a Tonga  also make a major contributions the  sport.  This is not always properly acknowledged, as the following story illustrates.

It was a thrilling game between the Kiwis and  Mate Ma'a Tonga. at Mt Smart Stadum  at the weekend but behind the scenes all was not well.  The issues? Money and insensitivity.  Read  the complete article.  Here's a summary:

Kiwi team. Take away the brown faces and who's left? pn432

On money, Tongan organisers said,  "Tongan fans continue to bring huge profits to New Zealand Rugby League while Tonga's National Rugby League walk away with nothing.... Tonga fans packed out Mt Smart Stadium once again but the team are now left in need of sponsorship to continue playing at the Oceania League Cup.... ." 

Tonga's NFL spokesman Melino Maka said he believed both the rugby union and league organisations used the tier system to discriminate against the smaller Pacific Island countries' teams.

"I think that we're now in an era where we actually fight for women's rights and fair pay in sports and we need to pay special attention to fair pay for a team like Mate Ma'a Tonga because all the games they play, they draw a huge crowd and they make those matches viable."

Mr Maka understands that no profits from tickets sold at stadium matches where Mate Ma'a Tonga have played go to Tonga.

He also referred to last year's takings where profits from the Mate Ma'a Tonga v. Kangaroo game helped subsidise the Kiwis v. Kangaroos!  He accused the NRL and NZRL of bullying. ."They said if you don't agree with  (profits of the match going to the NZRL) then Australia isn't going to play Tonga,"

"I think that we shouldn't be having that type of bullying in sport ...Rugby League needs Mate Ma'a Tonga in order to get the crowd at the gate." 

The National Anthem

Mr Maka added that many in the Tonga community were unhappy with the way DUCO** ran promotions for last weekend's match... and  the way the National Anthem was performed. 

 "Tonga's anthem is usually sung by an artist selected by Tongan community leaders. The decision by DUCO to get a quartet to sing the national anthem was wrong and it was an absolute embarrassment. To be standing there and you can't sing the national anthem because the tune is out. That's not the tune of our anthem." (That's not an exaggeration. I taught for 5 years in Tonga and barely recognized it. --ACW)

"To me," Mr Maka continued,  "DUCO made up their mind with how they wanted to do everything without accepting help and support offered to them by the community. Organisers have to appreciate the fan involvement in part of the Mate Ma'a Tonga phenomena - because the two go hand in hand," said Mr Maka who believes DUCO or NZRL is in need of a cultural advisor.

"I hope that the next two games for Mate Ma'a Tonga are actually handled better than this because there are a lot of MMT fans who stick with Tonga but were not happy with the way last weekend's game was handled."

**  DUO is an events organising company with offices in Sydney and Auckland. It's CEO, Secretary and all key employees  are Pakeha/European.  

--ACW