The hosting of the Pacific Games Village at the Methodist Church’s Faleula compound will enable athletes to have a firsthand experience of village life in Samoa.

Pacific Games Council executive director, Andrew Minogue, told the Sunday Samoan that living in the Faleula compound will have a positive effect on the athletes.

“I think that’s going to be a really positive part of the games experience for the athletes to have their brothers and sisters from the other parts of the Pacific close by. The other thing I like about Faleula, its very close to the main road, its close to village life in Samoa – it is representative of village life,” he said in an interview last Friday, after a joint press conference with the Samoa Government’s Pacific Games Office. 

The games villages at the 2015 and 2011 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and New Caledonia were separated from the city population, Mr. Minogue added.

“For instance, in PNG four years ago, we had the village set at the university and everyone was together in 10 accommodation blocks. But as a university, it was quite removed from the rest of the Port Moresby community, it was out on its own.” 

“Similarly, in New Caledonia at the university there in 2011 on the peninsula on Nouvelle. The athletes were all together but they were quite isolated from the rest of the local community – whereas at Faleula you are on the main road there, there is villages all around, the athletes are going to be competing in Apia and then going back to Faleula, and they are going to see life in Samoa right up close so I think it is a very positive aspect of the plans here and I think the athletes’ experience will be very good,” he said.

Chefs de Mission and representatives of 13 Pacific Island countries and territories, participating in the 2019 Pacific Games, were taken on a tour of the Faleula Games Village last week as part of a three-day familiarization program that started last Wednesday and concluded last Friday.

A joint press conference was at the Pacific Games Office headquarters by Mr. Minogue and Pacific Games Office CEO, Falefata Hele-Ei Matatia to conclude the program.