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 It’s official.
Samoa has moved from a desire to quit Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) to actually doing so.
“We’ve already advised them of that decision by Samoa,” Chief Executive Officer of Samoa Rugby Union (SRU), Su’a Peter Schuster, said. The combined Fiji, Samoa and Tonga effort has not met its objectives, he added.
Nor is it likely to from what Su’a mentioned. “The original concept was basically to provide an opportunity (to play) every two years,” he said. “There were two aims, to get revenue to help in the running of the activities by the unions.
“Secondly to provide the players the opportunity to play against tier one sides.” But the International Rugby Board (IRB) changed the schedule for the Pacific Islands team to play every four years.
“Every four years won’t generate the revenue needed to run … our rugby,” said Su’a. The individual nations in the combined side also need to promote their products, he said.
“I think for not only Samoa but Fiji and Tonga have to promote their rugby product in order for them to get money from sponsors.” The combined team has not generated the required annual sponsorship, Su’a said. He believes more exposure as individual countries would attract more sponsorship.
Preparing a Pacific Islands team to turn out is “very expensive,” he said. As well IRB says the feedback from the various rugby unions is that they prefer national teams.
“It creates more interest for their gate (sales),” Su’a said.
Nations hosting for example Samoa need 12,000 bums on seats to break even. PIRA was formed in 2004. Back
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