BLOOD TIES RUN STRONG
Moa says Tongan players hope to do islands proud
THE PEOPLE, THEY HAVE NOTHING, BUT THEY GIVE EVERYTHING AND THEY’RE VERY POOR THERE BUT THEY’RE JUST OVERWHELMED WITH PRIDE TO SEE US REPRESENT THEM AND LITTLE DO THEY KNOW IT GIVES US MORE MOTIVATION IN RETURN TONGA FORWARD SAM MOA
AN unwavering spiritual bond to their people runs through the blood of every member of Mate Ma’a Tonga.
It’s about faith, love and sacrifice and it transcends the 4000km between Cairns and the island nation.
Most of the players who will wear the Tongan jersey in their Rugby League World Cup may not be born there, but it doesn’t mean their connection is any less.
You have to be willing to die for your country. If you aren’t up for that, you can’t truly live to those words Mate Ma’a.
When the players eye off Scotland for their pre-game war dance, the Sipi Tau, they do so knowing they’re the lucky ones.
Without their parents looking abroad, these NRL stars would not be in the position they are to give the people something to be proud of.
Not that winning or losing is the be all and end all. The beauty of it all is the Tongan people will be smiling regardless of the result. Just being able to wake up to see the next day is a good enough reason to be happy.
Catalans Dragons and former Roosters NRL forward Sam Moa said a trip to Tonga before the World Cup reinforced why they wear the red jersey, some in preference over others. “When you’re raised in a Tongan household, I think the overriding factor is a lot of love,” he said.
“There’s a lot of respect that has to be shown to your elders and to your parents and I think when you grow up being Tongan and you realise how hard it is, how hard of a life it was for your parents to live in Tonga, and how hard it is for them, it makes you appreciate how hard they’ve worked to give you the opportunities you have.
“The people, they have nothing, but they give everything and they’re very poor there, but they’re just overwhelmed with pride to see us represent them and little do they know it gives us more motivation in return.
“It’s not just Tonga, you can put the other Pacific nations in there. It’s a very hard life they live, they have very little resources, but what they do have, they’ll give literally everything off their back for you.”
The players, many of them deeply religious, gather before and after training, more to ask God to keep them safe for the battle ahead. Every little bit helps when you’re battling the world’s best, but in the end it’s up to the 17 blokes who line up tomorrow to answer them.
“There’s an overwhelming amount of love and pride that we have as a people and I think you can see that in our fans and our job now is to produce the goods on the field, because we do have a good team on paper but that doesn’t mean anything and we know we’ve got a lot of hard work to do,” Moa said.
“We just hope we can fulfil our potential in this World Cup and most importantly give back to the Tongan people what they’ve given us.”