Marist 7s to include women’s competition

Written by Mathew Lemisio
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Four women rugby teams are expected to take part in this year’s 21st Marist St Joseph’s Samoa International sevens tournament next month. “It’s all about promoting rugby in Samoa regardless of which sex is playing it,” Marist Sports Club President, Tagaloa Faafouina Sua said. It’s not the first time, a women’s competition was included in the Marist International sevens. “We included a women’s competition before but somehow, women’s rugby in the country started fading so it wasn’t looked at in previous years. But this year we are definitely including a competition for women.” No doubt this is welcoming news for those running women’s rugby in the country given the fact that there’s limited rugby competition in Samoa. Meanwhile, Tagaloa also confirmed that so far, four overseas teams have been confirmed to take part in this year’s tournament. Three teams from New Zealand and one from Australia have already included in this year’s event. But Tagaloa said there could be more overseas teams coming. He said negotiations with other overseas teams were still underway. “Right now we’re still in negotiations with our Fijian counterparts to bring a team over,” Tagaloa said. “Waisale Severi is no longer with the Fijian Rugby Union so he’s really keen to bring a team for this year’s sevens. Last year, Serevi confirmed he was bringing a team over but only to pull out days before the tournament kicked off. “There are also other overseas teams willing to take part but we’ll see where we can afford to assist in bringing them over.” Tagaloa said the sevens organizing committee have already planned numerous fundraising events to raise funds for this year’s sevens. “It’s really expensive to stage this event,” Tagaloa said. “So we’re fundraising.” The club will host a golf tournament early next month to kick off their rounds of fundraising events. But Su’a said they are still seeking sponsorships. “As the case every year, we go out to our business community and government to seek sponsorship. This year is no exception. We need any sort of sponsorship we can get.” The Marist Samoa International Sevens has been considered by many as the pinnacle of sevens rugby tournaments in the country given the caliber of teams and players who played in it in the past. And ever year people expect nothing less. “People want to see the best teams and players playing in our tournament,” Tagaloa said. “And that’s what our organizing committee and club strive for every year.” With rugby going professional, Tagaloa said it’s no longer an easy task to bring top players for the Marist Samoa International Sevens. Apart from players’ busy playing schedules, playing fees for professional players is another major obstacle that restricts these players from taking part in tournaments like the Marist sevens. But that’s not stopping the club from staging a sevens tournament full of top quality players. “Since professionalism arrived, we still managed to bring in top rugby players to play for this tournament,” Tagaloa said. Last year, New Zealand sevens stars, Nigel Hunt and Alfred Perenise played for the Marist New Zealand Federation team. It also featured members of our winning Manu Samoa sevens team. “It was good for the tournament in terms of competition,” Tagaloa said, “on the other hand it attracts more people to our shores meaning the spin off on the economy was great.” The 21st Marist Samoa International Sevens is scheduled to kick off on the 22nd and 23rd of next month. Tagaloa said local teams to participate in this year’s tournament will be picked on merits and performances from last year. Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Title Comment

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