The Marist St. Joseph’s Sports Club Inc. launched the 36th Marist St. Joseph’s International 7s Tournament at the Faleata Golf Course on Friday.

The country’s premier 7s tournament will see its return to the 16 men’s team format and six women’s teams.

“The design of this year’s tournament is based on the feedbacks from our stakeholders based on their experiences from last year’s tournament,” newly appointed Tournament Director, Tolumaanave Mathew Iakopo said. 

“The aim is to ensure that the quality of the tournament is maintained at the highest level both on the field and off it.”

Under the Theme “The Green Journey Continues”, Toluma’anave said this year’s tournament will pay homage to the pioneers of the Club who have paved the way for this tournament since its inception 36 years ago.

“The club is going through some challenges but every year brings new challenges which helps with our progression,” he said.

"This year will be the first time the club will host its famous sevens tournament away from its Lotopa home.

"As I said we’re on a new path moving forward and we take this opportunity to acknowledge the Marist Brothers for their support over the last 35 years. They have been the pillars of our journey and will continue to do so for the next many years."

Since 2017, the Marist St. Joseph’s Sports Club Inc. innovatively introduced its annual activities the Marist Sports Week, which later transformed into the Marist Sports Season which features other sports tournaments such as boxing, touch rugby, rugby league, netball and the Marist St. Joseph’s 7s.

The new approach took into account the reality that rugby is no longer the only sport that offered opportunities for young sports people, both males and females.

“The bigger picture is what can the Marist St. Joseph’s Sports Club Inc. do at the ground level to contribute to the sports at the national level,” club president Lemalu Nonu John Lemisio said.

“We like to think that through our platform we have contributed to the success of our teams in the recent Pacific Games seeing a lot of our athletes and management teams who were part of the teams that won medals.

“We always take pride in our Marist son Ato who will be representing Samoa at the Olympics for the second time. We have one of the youngest netballers in Syonara getting picked for our national netball team.

“We also have a number of our sporing officials leading teams as coaches and managers. That is the measure we use to measure ourselves in what we do through our sports season.”

The 36 Marist St. Joseph’s 7s will be held at the Apia Park Stadium on the 21 and 22 of June 2024. The top eight teams from last year’s tournament will automatically qualifies to the top seeds for the pools.

The remaining eight spots will be considered based on a screening process by the organising committee.The main prize money for the men’s competition (Tupua Fred Wetzell Cup) will be SAT15,000 and SAT 3,000 for the women’s competition (Cynthia Wetzell Cup). Registration for men’s teams is SAT1,500 and $500 for women’s teams.

The second exhibition match featuring the Samoa Deaf Association Rugby team will also take center stage during the tournament.