Liahona High School students supporting Moana Pasifika in Tonga on 4 May 2024. Photo: Moana Pasifika
Moana Pasifika will continue to work with all partners in taking games to their home islands of Samoa and Tonga.
Chief executive Pelenato Sakalia said while they want to play more games in front of their home fans in the islands, the reality is such games are expensive to take across the ocean.
"Without a doubt Moana Pasifika is very committed to playing games in the Pacific," he said.
"But there is a cold, hard economic reality to these things. Taking games to the Pacific is really an expensive affair."
Sakalia said although there have been some suggestions for the franchise to re-locate to the islands like rivals Fijian Drua, the reality is the infrastructure on the islands does not support hosting a team base.
He said this means they will continue to be based in Albany here in New Zealand unless and until things change on the islands.
"Unfortunately, both Tonga and Samoa, it's not a criticism, it's just a reality. When you've got a population of 100,000 in Tonga and about 250,000 in Samoa, you don't necessarily have the size and scale to be able to support the specialist support services that you need to have access to, to support a Super Rugby franchise," he said.
Sakalia spoke with RNZ Pacific senior sports journalist Iliesa Tora. Below is the full trascript of the conversation:
IT: You have just returned from Tonga, playing at home there and had played one game in Samoa last year. What is the possibility of having more games in the islands moving forward?
PS: There was an amazing experience into Tonga. The work by the Tonga government and the Tonga Rugby Union, working Moana Pasifika to host the events was an amazing achievement. There was a lot of work put in by people to get up to a standard for Super Rugby.
All the operational works to get the broadcast. It was just a fantastic event. It was just a shame the weather conditions were what they were on the day. Otherwise, I think there would have been even more people come in, under the torrential rain, but it was a fantastic occasion.
The second part is what is the appetite for having more games in the Pacific. Without a doubt Moana Pasifika is very committed to playing games in the Pacific. But there is a cold, hard economic reality to these things. Taking games to the Pacific is really an expensive affair. A lot of people will say, well if Fiji are able to do it, why can't you do it in Tonga and Samoa?
But when you have a look at what I call the economic disparities between even Fiji and the likes of Tonga, and Samoa, you look at the differences in infrastructure, you know, the economic trades, the economic in-flows in terms of financial assistance that comes into Fiji relative to what comes into Samoa and Tonga, it's really challenging.
But Moana Pasifika will continue to work really closely with SANZAR, with all the partners including the broadcasters, and with the respective home nations, to see how we can come up with a more effective economic model that will enable us to play the games in Samoa and Tonga.
IT: With Moana Pasifika still yet to have a permanent home base, is there any discussions on how that will look moving forward?
PS: Is there a possibility that Moana Pasifika can be based in the Pacific? I think if you set the aspiration stuff to one side and you look at the practical realities to host a professional Super Rugby franchise, you will see there are challenges that we need to take care off first.
If you just have a look at the health requirements, a big part of a professional Super Rugby franchise is having access to the necessary medical equipment, you know, for both the rehab and medical assessments.
Look at things as simple as MRIs. I don't think a week goes by without having a need to make reference to an MRI. You then got to have access to radiologists, you've then got to have access to your specialist sports physician as well.
Unfortunately, both Tonga and Samoa, it's not a criticism, it's just a reality, when you've got a population of 100,000 in Tonga and about 250,000 in Samoa, you don't necessarily have the size and scale to be able to support the specialist support services that you need to have access to, to support a Super Rugby franchise.
So, the practical realities are the standard is of professionalism is what we need to have to support a team. If you look at the Drua. Fiji has got a population of lose to a million people, which is four times the size of Samoa and 10 times the size of Tonga. And they just have the bare minimum to be able to be competitive as a Super Rugby franchise.
I think for the future, until such time as the infrastructure is there to support a professional team, it's just not feasible to have a franchise based there. That doesn't mean that we don't want to. It's just the practical realities of what's required to have a super team, what's required to support a team.
Therefore, it means for the foreseeable future, where we are based at the moment, that's where we need to be really focused on. But at the same time, we want to take whatever games that we can within reason, that is economically viable, to the home nations of Tonga and Samoa.
IT: What would be your message to the fans in the islands and here in New Zealand?
PS: It's hard to put into words what we experienced in Tonga, much the same as what we experienced in Samoa. We could just see the pride in the Tongan fans and the young people, there's a lot of pride there that there is a Pacific Super Rugby franchise.
There was so much love, it was it was hard to put into words that experience. There's so much ofa from us, from Moana Pasifika to the people of Tonga and to the fans, it means a lot.
At the same time, you know, when we look at our fans here in New Zealand, we just see the tough times that they're experiencing. These are really tough economic times for our Pasifika people here in Aotearoa.
To those that have been able to support us, to those that have been coming to our games, and those that are also reaching out to us through our social media channels, you know, love and respect for what they give to us.
We definitely feel all the love and affection from the people, our supporters who wish us nothing but the best as we continue to move forward.