Thank you Vailima International Marist Sevens

Dear Editor,

First of all congratulations to Marist Samoa for hosting another successful tournament. The 2-day tournament provided some exciting display of talent and entertaining rugby. 

The highlight of the tournament for me was Lefaga making it to the cup quarters, after upsetting Scopa filled with their imported Fijian stars. And how about Satalo cruising to the cup quarters after victories against Marist Saint Josephs and Mountfort Brothers from NZ. 

Well to top it off, Frankies Tama Uli of Salelaloga made it to the cup final for the first time ever, after crushing one of the tournament favourites Vaiala in their quarter final match. 

In the women’s game, the contribution by the Auckland Samoa womens team through the clinics in schools and the gears donated is massive for the development of the game in Samoa. In saying that our local teams did tremendously well too, they played with courage and skills which definitely entertained the crowd. 

What more can you say about the great success of this Marist 7s International tournament? 

Well, it wasn’t until the teams were given their so-called prizes that the painful memories of past tournaments started to come back. It is sad to see a great event ruined by the power of money. And to top it off, the best reply by the Marist officials when asked was, “E pule a Malisi I le lakou tournament” lol 

Ok let’s take a closer look;

24 Men’s team took part

Let’s say each teams registration was $2,000.

So that’s a total of $48,000 

Sponsorships news from social media (without ACP major sponsor and others);

• Vailima $50,000

• SSAB $25,000

Ia lava ia ga sponsor for now as a total of $123,000 is too much to count already.

Ok here are the so-called Prizes;

• 1st Prize $20,000 (Cup)

• 2nd $7000

• 3rd $3000

• 4th $2000

• 5th $1000 (Plate)

• 6th $700

• 7th $500 (Bowl)

• 8th $300

• 9th $100 (Spoon)

• 10th $50

Simple maths faimai ai le isi koeaiga lol

Faafetai a fai tupe Malisi. Ua sili aku ai Prize money a le Iva Youth 7s i le kou international tournament lol. I hope your teams can actually win a game next year. Yeah da Loto Nu’u. 

 

F.L.

 

Ed’s note: The Marist Sports Club was contacted for a comment about this letter yesterday. They declined saying they would rather focus on doing what they can to grow the different sports in Samoa – including rugby.

Samoa Observer

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