Tag championing Fair Play with tournament

By Thomas Airey 03 June 2019, 9:40PM

Samoa Tag Incorporated’s tournaments always have one of their key values as a theme, and last weekend’s Fair Play and Good Sportsmanship Tournament was no different.

With this tournament following the schools Stop the Violence and Bullying Tournament and Samoa Kidney Foundation Awareness Tournaments earlier in the year, Samoa Tag President Faaofonu’u JP Leota said they look to get across the core values of the sport whenever possible.

“At the senior level, that’s where they get more feisty and more competitive.

“You can have that, but do it in a manner of fair play and good sportsmanship.

“We don’t want games dictated by violence, we wanna stop that.

“Especially when kids see it from the adults, we want them to be leaders.”

Faaofonu’u said they Samoa Tag take extra care to prevent confrontations and altercations during their games.

“We do regular clinics on the rules.

“We need to teach referees that once you see there’s something going on on the field that could lead to an altercation, stop it straight away, so we teach them those things.”

Faaofonu’u said everyone has their own cup of tea in terms of the sport they want to play, so they just want to create another option and platform for those looking to play a non-contact sport.

“It’s a sport for all ages, right from under-12s up to 50-55s.

“If tag can help nurture future rugby stars and rugby league stars at a young age, because of the skillsets that the programme brings, it’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

However he said often there is too great a focus on high-performance in sports, unlike in tag where their main goal is to help people stay healthy, and having a team represent Samoa is a bonus.

“Not everyone is going to make rep teams, we’ve gotta create pathways for the rest that can play.”

Faaofonu’u said the sport continues to grow since its introduction here as more clubs and teams come on board.

“The first two years of Samoa Tag it was more awareness, promoting tag.

“However we can’t promote tag just by talking about it, we have to physically get out there and put on tournaments.”

The Fair Play and Good Sportsmanship Tournament was contested by 18 teams across open mens and open womens divisions.


Results:

Mens

1st: Tau Warriors

2nd: Tau Samatau Samurai

3rd: Tau Originals

4th: Tau Letava Bulldogs


Womens

1st: Tau Maroons

2nd: Tau Titans

3rd: Tau Samatau Samurai

4th: Tau Warriors

Tags

Grassroots
Tag rugby
By Thomas Airey 03 June 2019, 9:40PM

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