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Eliota Fuimaono Sapolu

Seems we have a Head Honcho from the IRB in town in Samoa..

Heard that we are gonna have a protest in front of his residence due to all the unfair treatment on the Samoan team.

OR.. we can stone his car.. lol

Will keep you guys updated on the so called 'protest'. Will Try and find out the IRB officials name.. It was in the Newspaper today.
 
It's atrocious you would suggest something like that Olyy.
It's not the Samoan Unions fault the public share parrallel views to Sapolu. And quite frankly, good on them.

Although a stoning of his car is quite erratic, it won't happen.
 
If they care that much about their rugby that they'd doing something as pathetic as that then they'd soon stop if they thought they were harming their rugby.


This has gone beyond Sapolu standing up for Samoa, this is about homophobic abuse and death threats towards an official.
 
Dizzy said:
It's atrocious you would suggest something like that Olyy.
It's not the Samoan Unions fault the public share parrallel views to Sapolu. And quite frankly, good on them.

Although a stoning of his car is quite erratic, it won't happen.
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I agree with Olyy.

The very least the Samoan Union could do (apart from stealing all the money) is distance themselves from his comments but provide some public assurance that they are disappointed with outcome of RWC and the issues around that BUT will dispute that in a proper way.

Stone throwing? If Sapolu and his fans wanted to be treated less like savages this is NOT the way show the IRB that their not.

It's pathetic and attacking a Referee based on his race is a callous, being from Wellington do you think that Winnie Laban would do something like that?

There are ways to pick your battles and this is not one of them.
 
I've tried to stay out of this debate for so long given I have a track record for going a little too far in some regards.
But come on guys, You're being TOO harsh on Sapolu, this is a man who knew damn well that his team had a high chance of getting through to the quarter finals but were given a harder road to accomplish this feat.
Fans of the major nations like myself can shrug it off and have the attitude like "they weren't going to go very far anyway so the 4 day rest shouldn't bother them"
But if you put yourself in their shoes, you would be equally as frustrated as Sapolu, No, I don't agree with the "racist" label he put on Owens, nor do I agree with the "bias" label. Add in the fact that they don't have as much depth as the bigger nations, a 4 day turn around isn't suffient enough. Then add in the brand fine against one of their players when a bloke like JW can switch the ball which has an effect on the actual outcome of the game itself and he get's let off. Throw in all the bad calls and the fact that nothing ever get's done about bad refereeing and you have yourself a man called Sapolu, who whether you like it or not, IS in fact speaking up for everyone.
I do however feel for the guy as Owens was ridiculous in this game. The same way players can be sanctioned/banned/suspended/fined is exactly what should happen to referees if they have a bad game and make as many bad calls as Owens did, not only against South Africa but Samoa too, then why can't they be summoned to judiciary??. He was pathetic and players and fans alike who complain about referee's time and time again get no justice. Something has to be done to the referee's to ensure a fair and honest game.

I complain about the referee's all the time and maybe I just want something to happen to the referee for a change but his points are very valid.

In saying all this, I have to say that I haven't read ALL the tweets/comments made by Sapolu so your criticism could also be valid. I'm just supporting the fact that the Samoans[and all tier2/3/4 nations] were hard done by and the IRB have shown no sign of guilt at all.

At a risk of resurfacing this debate, you could relate it to a certain incident in 05 between a black team and a red team where a red player was hurt and made comments left right and centre for months on end about a certain black team player which in ways had an effect on his public image... I know alot of posters were in behind and supporting this type of rubbish.
 
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Sapolu came on a NZ news show last night to discuss his comments. Now I don't want to get into any debate regarding the comments about Nigel Owens being racist or anything in that field, but one thing I do agree with is that the draw at this World Cup has favoured some of the bigger nations.

The problem with fitting the games of a 5 team group into a 4 weekend schedule is that there will need to be catch up games for those that have the buy when the other 4 play each other. So far it has tended to be the smaller nations playing in these games.

Obviously one of the reasons bigger teams play in the weekend is crowd numbers/viewers/revenue, but the point is still valid. It seems smaller nations are being given tougher draws because they're small, which is logical from a monetary point of view, but not so fair in other respects such as the competitveness of the competiton itself.
 
As much as people are saying that he's an articulate well spoken person, he has not yet supplied any of his comments with any concrete facts.

No one (fans/other International teams/critics/media) disagrees with the fact that there is unfairness in the lower tier teams situations.
No one has disagreed with his intention with bringing to light those issues.
Yes - there is a disparity with the Refereeing for the PI teams - but this has been ongoing for years.

But when has he once provided any adequate solutions? All he has provided is complaints and whinging which belittles the attempts made by any fighting these injustices in the proper medium.

Simply put - he's a spoiled intelligent child raging against the machine with no thought of how his personal (and moronic) comments affect others.

If anything, what he's done is highlight the fact that the Samoans are aggressive thoughtless players who hate the referees.

Again, of all players to complain - he has the least to complain about. He's a RWC veteran, where were his comments when the programming was announced, where was his comments in the test matches prior to the RWC?

People say that he's put at risk his career as a pro rugby player - but what's that against another Samoan Pro Rugby Player who doesn't have the education and has to rely on his Rugby Contract to supply his family in the islands?

Again - I understand the intent, but the way he has promoted it is extremely selfish and very disrespectful in a culture that prioritizes respect for your elders.
 
This is a stupid debate. OK He has 1 good point. The smaller nations had a bad draw. Make a petition, voice your concern, do whatever you want. Don't post dumb-as-sh*t threats on twitter.

Just because he has one good point, doesn't mean he deserves to be defended. The man was encouraging referee death threats FFS. That is inexcusable. If Nigel Owens started promoting player death threats, he'd be fired in an instant and the world would be calling for his head.

The IRB should try to rehabilitate this man while he is suspended. He is clearly extremely ignorant and doesn't have the slightest clue of how the administration of test rugby operates.
 
TRF_Olyy said:
If this happens I hope the Samoan Union face the consequences.
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Lol.

Olyy. Lighten up. My gosh. It was joke.

Next thing you know.. "Our Forwards are gonna kill you guys!"

They should be charged with murder.

EDIT:

Oh wait.. Lol.. You were joking as well. YOU GOT ME.
 
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To be fair Sapolu has a valid point with the scheduling, and it's not right that the smaller nations have to be penalised as such so a bigger team can get a weekend game for the TV rights. But where he is very wrong is comparing his point to slavery, the holocaust and whatever else he said. That's just incredible. And at no point do you target a match official, staff, opponent or any other member of the sport in a way that is detrimental to the game. He should be charged with bringing the game into disrepute. But having said that, he's probably noticed that unless you are a tier 1 nation, you don't get listened to, and so has turned to shock tactics to get the issue flagged up, though i suspect it could backfire on him.

Sapolu is an intelligent guy, but this is just moronic behaviour. The RWC worked when it was 4 team groups. That's what they should do, then schedules would work fine, and more importantly, nations like Samoa would improve the competition. It used to work as 4 team groups, but it seems the system changed when the game went pro, and the iRB left behind amateurism, and those nations who hadn't yet adapted.

Tier 2 nations should lobby together against the iRB, take it officially to them, and refuse to play in the next RWC if there is no compromise on the cards. You can't play the RWC with 8 teams. Actually saying that, a 12 team European Championship would be a nice idea too..
 
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Any reasonable person would agree that the guy went overboard but the 'moron' (I'm using the term ironically for anyone who might miss it LOL) is getting a hell of a lot of publicity for his cause and that might be his intentions so fair play if he is willing to sacrifice his credibility for what he believes in I can respect that.

That said he only has one point and that is the unfair scheduling. I also think a 20 team 1st tier cup championship is the way to go with a parrallel 12 team 3 pool system 2nd tier competition and for promotion/relegation matches to be played between the lowest of the 1st tier and the top 4 (SF teams) of the 2nd tier. That way you won't have odd scheduling with each team matching up and you avoid the blow-out matches with the likes of Namibia while still having teams capable of an upset like Tonga, Canada, Japan etc in the 1st tier. Promotion and relegation gives the 2nd tier nations that might make the step up the opportunity to know they are in and focus on getting themselves ready in 4 years rather than having to worry about qualifying and being undercooked come the tournament. Such a model also allows for 8 extra teams to get the chance of experiencing a world cup and get valuable experience even though in a 2nd tier; I mean what can you realisticaaly take from a 150-6 drubbing that you can't learn from a 50-15 loss?

As for Saupolo's other statements I think it's totally out of line to attack either the ref or the opposition and it goes totally against the spirit of the game. In fact i feel Samoas were very lucky to get away with a lot of **** going on in that game; punches to Matfield, Jannie and that open handed slap to Brussow (although that got dealt with overmuch to some degree although the sanction in the rule book is a red card), the many silly slaps in the face intended possibly to 'get' at us (?), pulling Burger by the hair high tackles (though that went both ways TBF) and a shoulder charge ect ect.
 
UilamOsa said:
As much as people are saying that he's an articulate well spoken person, he has not yet supplied any of his comments with any concrete facts.

No one (fans/other International teams/critics/media) disagrees with the fact that there is unfairness in the lower tier teams situations.
No one has disagreed with his intention with bringing to light those issues.
Yes - there is a disparity with the Refereeing for the PI teams - but this has been ongoing for years.

But when has he once provided any adequate solutions? All he has provided is complaints and whinging which belittles the attempts made by any fighting these injustices in the proper medium.

Simply put - he's a spoiled intelligent child raging against the machine with no thought of how his personal (and moronic) comments affect others.

If anything, what he's done is highlight the fact that the Samoans are aggressive thoughtless players who hate the referees.

Again, of all players to complain - he has the least to complain about. He's a RWC veteran, where were his comments when the programming was announced, where was his comments in the test matches prior to the RWC?

People say that he's put at risk his career as a pro rugby player - but what's that against another Samoan Pro Rugby Player who doesn't have the education and has to rely on his Rugby Contract to supply his family in the islands?

Again - I understand the intent, but the way he has promoted it is extremely selfish and very disrespectful in a culture that prioritizes respect for your elders.
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I love this post so much, I just want to give it a big hug :D
 
Hey usos, remember those no fefe t-shirts...'if your losing the game...' BUAHAHA.
 
UilamOsa said:
As much as people are saying that he's an articulate well spoken person, he has not yet supplied any of his comments with any concrete facts.

No one (fans/other International teams/critics/media) disagrees with the fact that there is unfairness in the lower tier teams situations.
No one has disagreed with his intention with bringing to light those issues.
Yes - there is a disparity with the Refereeing for the PI teams - but this has been ongoing for years.

But when has he once provided any adequate solutions? All he has provided is complaints and whinging which belittles the attempts made by any fighting these injustices in the proper medium.

Simply put - he's a spoiled intelligent child raging against the machine with no thought of how his personal (and moronic) comments affect others.

If anything, what he's done is highlight the fact that the Samoans are aggressive thoughtless players who hate the referees.

Again, of all players to complain - he has the least to complain about. He's a RWC veteran, where were his comments when the programming was announced, where was his comments in the test matches prior to the RWC?

People say that he's put at risk his career as a pro rugby player - but what's that against another Samoan Pro Rugby Player who doesn't have the education and has to rely on his Rugby Contract to supply his family in the islands?

Again - I understand the intent, but the way he has promoted it is extremely selfish and very disrespectful in a culture that prioritizes respect for your elders.
Click to expand...

Great post!!!
 
LordHope said:
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it hard to believe what this guy is saying right now?

I can't imagine nyone in the their right mind who would want him as a legal representitive at this stage.
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Agreed, he has ruined the rest of his life by the looks of it. And by what he has said he deserves that.
 
total bell end. keeps digging himself deeper into trouble as well. should just stfu.
 
He better send that JCB back. Hole is big enough right now.
 

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