Focus On The Tapuaiga Not The MPs

Written by Pio Sioa
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
When our boys won the Hong Kong Rugby 7’s last year, one of the celebrated moment for the watching country, was to see the respect they paid our political leaders, who were there to provide the ‘tapuaiga’. This traditional form of support in our Samoan culture is sacred. There is a saying “ E le sili le ta’i i lo le tapua’i,” roughly translated, “ It is not important who leads the charge, it is those who wills them success who are.” In the context of Hong Kong, the thrust of the ‘tapuaiga’ emanates from the united support of a rugby mad country that we are. There are rules and conventions of correct behaviour to be observed. The real ‘tapuaiga’ according to tradition is supposed to be done in silence. In the words of Aiono Dr. Fanaafi, the ‘tapuaiga’ is a collective will by a group of people projected outwards to strengthen or embolden a cause and to ensure success. The ‘tapuaiga’ is in fact what we can equate to praying, as preached by the missionaries. The term as we know was with Samoans long before Christianity came along. The behaviour and mannerisms associated with the subdued nature of the ‘tapuaiga’ is still observed by many, but perhaps moreso with the old folks….and of course our political leaders when they suddenly seem to appear out of nowhere in Hong Kong. Critics will of course point a contradictory finger at one of the MPs who was seen prancing half naked among the spectators while our boys were battling it out on the paddock last year. But like everything else, there are always exceptions to the rule. Maybe the gods or goddesses of Hong Kong inspired him to take his shirt off and show his biceps to project his will on the boys. Whatever he was doing was no different from the shouts and screams in front of the hundreds of television sets, by the home fans gone wild. Our Deputy Speaker, Laauli Polataivao, showed off his tattoo as well. Who knows, maybe the spirits of the two women who swam all the way from Fiji with the tools to bleed our menfolks and make men out of them, called out for the deputy speaker to open his shirt and let them out. The mysteries of the ‘tapuaiga’ and the power it possesses to inspire and to achieve success comes in many forms. The pre-game prayers offered to the divine Power of Heaven works in mysterious ways as well. Since God does not favour any one of His children over another, maybe we need the biases of the lesser divines who favour us, to tip the scale towards our ‘tapuaiga’ and make it possible for our boys to pull off a proud victory. So as we do our ‘tapuaiga’ this week from home for our boys in Hong Kong, forget about our political MPs, if the television coverage ferret them out of the crowd. They are simply there to provide the ‘tapuaiga’….. nothing else. What we need to focus all our attention on is how we can collectively throw our ‘tapuaiga’ from home We are not going to do that if we stamp our feet and grit our teeth at how fortunate for our politicians to be there watching the games, and why? Banish from our prayerful concentration any thoughts about how these politicians voted on the Right Hand Drive, and to which political party they support. The operative word for us is collective. We have to be united! Our concentration should be like a closed fist, rather than an open hand with fingers pointing in all directions. We have to punch through our ‘tapuaiga’ with a closed fist. An open hand will only sting. You could also run the risk of breaking one of the fingers if it’s kept open. Let us all wish our boys – Coach Galumalemana Rudolf and skipper Uale Mai and his boys success. They need our ‘ tapuaiga’ as a country and we should give them that. Go the Manu. Comments (2) Subscribe to this comment's feed ... written by Alise Faulalo Stunnenberg, March 27, 2008 Well said Pio! You can be sure that we'll be cheering with "closed fists" from Suva! More Fun Wathcing Rome Burn-- Give me a C cleft on the violin Nero! written by Se Come On, March 27, 2008 oi sole, everybody scatter like roaches-- wait till the phone calls a made from to and fro-- the lines are burining up Apia,we may have to put up new lines for the poles are melting I predict the PM is no longer in PreMenstrua, but let the bloodletting begin-- NOW l Write comment Name Email Title Comment

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