Sports

SAY MY NAME

What a week for sport! Last weekend the NRL treated us to a stellar showcase of Pasifika talent within the code by hosting the Pasifika test in Bankstown, Sydney following the Anzac test (Poor Kiwis). They incorporated more than just the on field talent but employed genuine Pacific performers from each nation involved to perform in between the games. This is such a great way to acknowledge the contribution of Pacific players in the game and pay homage to their roots and share a little taste of their vibrant island nations through song and dance. Fiji, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea proudly donned their nations jerseys as they stepped out onto the fields. They even served Vailima and Fiji Bitter at the stadium bars! The NRL happily include the Poly players because, why wouldn't you with all the skill and to be honest, natural talent.

But why are islanders so good at rugby and league? (Please note this is my opinion so relax a little) But our fathers and grandfathers and those before them had nothing else to do other than work the plantations and make a home or living for their families. Their “down time” or “spare time” was not spent watching Netflix or posting snap stories, while we do that today our ancestors before us were breeding grass roots rugby into our blood streams and it was fun, so they did it more. They came to NZ / Australia and it was the one of very few ties that held them equal with the other light skinned men. And maybe way back when they worked harder to prove themselves. They worked harder for less, or sometimes nothing. They worked harder because ‘slacking off’ isn't an option back in the islands.

Anyway, with the growing and strongly so, number of island and indigenous players in the NRL, it was so gratifying seeing the boys rep their respective nations through their anthems (and OMG most of them knew the words!) their jerseys, their haka, their colours, their brotherly bond and those cute little notes they write on their wrist bandages. I watched the start of every game with such an enormous amount of pride for each Pacific nation as they stood in awe of their bloodlines and then kick off... Then that pride came tumbling down as I was forced to endure what they call commentating… The mispronunciation of our boys names was so appalling! I get it, the Pacific accents and language is not similar to our dear Australian commentators but give me a break and make some effort!? You so gladly claim us for our contribution to your national rep teams and gloat about the great triumph they bring your nation yet you refuse to say ‘eh-se-eh-se’ instead continuously hearing ‘essay-essay’ made me want to throw my vailima at the TV screen. I know for a fact they can say Tonga, they just said it. So why in the heck are they saying ‘Moe-Gah’ Just say it like Tonga but with an M instead of a T?!

The reality is, they don't care. They’ve been corrected a few times but we’re in their country, in their game and they’ll do as they please. Why would they work harder to say the names when they don't have to and no one is holding them accountable to and they don't think its important to them? Unfortunately, some of the players themselves have become so desensitized to the pronunciation of their own names that they too mispronounce THEIR OWN NAME! I’m not hating though because I actually have fallen victim to this once upon a time so I get it. You’re a little embarrassed for your fellow European friend/colleague trying to say your name, you see them struggling so terribly so instead of continuing to help them, sound it out, or teach them we get a little lazy, chuck it in the too hard basket and just accept the best that they can do which is in fact the worst pronunciation of our name, will just have to do because its easier that way.

Times have changed! The amount of tools that can help is off the charts, there are apps, there are maps and there is google! The accountability for the correct pronunciation of our names needs to start with ourselves. The players need to take more accountability and be open to correcting interviewers and hosts when they say it wrong! Matt Gillett corrected the interviewer on The Footy Show in 2015 and now they all manage to say it right?! Jill-it not Jill-ett.

I read a great article by Emily Matagi about how she wrote to the NRL about the mispronunciation of Poly players names and had no response. We need more people being proactive in ‘getting it right’. But in all fairness to the NRL, they are holding these amazing tests like the Pacific test and the Indigenous round to celebrate our communities and its not their fault. It is the networks! Channel Nine and Fox need to give their hosts, their presenters and commentators the 4-1-1 on their bad behaviour and set a standard. Make an effort so that we can start to see a change! Te Arihi Maipi does an awesome job for Sky Sport and leads a great example for his co hosts. We need more of that!

Why is it so important that they say our names right? Other than the fact that we come from generations that struggled to master the english language so that we could communicate with them, at least we tried and look at us now… We make a conscious effort to not only pronounce European names correctly (sometimes through broken english, really broken english) but there are some fresh as players who are still learning and making every effort to be understood so why can they not afford us the same courtesy? We don't want our names to change as much as they wouldn't want their names to change, but that's what they are doing. Making our names into something they are not. We want to see consistency in our families (how we say it-the correct way) and on the fields/TV (how commentators say it-to the world). And just as their names have great ancestral meaning and carry so much history. So do ours.