Kingdom Sevens Rugby Tournament kicks off [1]
Friday, October 6, 2017 - 22:45
The Tonga Kingdom Sevens Rugby Tournament is underway with 16 men and seven women’s teams including seven international players from New Zealand, are taking part in the competition over two days, 6 and 7 October.
To mark the start of the tournament, a parade was held on Thursday afternoon, 5 October. Players, officials, their families and friends taking part in the tournament marched through Nuku’alofa and at the same time voiced their support of Orange Day - preventing and ending violence against women and girls.
Today, the teams played 32 pool games at ‘Api Fo’ou College and tomorrow they will play in 17 play off games at Hala Ano Sports Ground in Kolo’motu’a.
Great prizes are on offer in the tournament and include $10,000 for the Men’s teams, $3,000 for the Women’s Open teams and $5,000 for the Women’s Under 19’s teams.
Cassandra Moala-Mafi, Vice President of Tonga Kingdom Sevens Committee said the tournament was put together by a group of volunteers with a common interest to develop and empower youth in Tonga as well as men and women to do they best they can with the talent they have.
The tournament will also help to develop players, coaches, managers, match officials and referees to a higher standard as well as improving the level of sevens rugby in Tonga.
“We are looking at inviting international teams to take part in the future.”
“The tournament is also all about promoting the inclusion of women in rugby and also their participation in local, regional and also international competitions.”
Two international rugby referees have joined the tournament, a Samoan woman, Avi’i Fa’alupega and Digicel’s CEO, Ben Kealy.
It's unusual to see women refeering a rugby game but 31-year-old Avi’I Fa’alupega told Matangi Tonga she started as a referee in 2008 in local competitions. She then became an international referee last November. The first international game she refereed was in the South East Asia World Cup qualifier where Fiji played Papua New Guinea.
The tournament is sponsored by UN Women, Digicel Tonga Limited and run by the Tonga Women’s Rugby Association in cooperation with Talitha Project.