Sport in Samoa

The main sports played in Samoa are rugby union and Samoan cricket.

Rugby union

Rugby union is very popular in Samoa and the national team nicknamed the 'Manu' Samoa, is consistently competitive against teams from vastly more populous nations.

The sport is governed by the Samoa Rugby Football Union, who are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance, and thus, also contribute to the international Pacific Islanders rugby union team. At club level there is the National Provincial Championship and Pacific Rugby Cup Prominent Samoan players include Pat Lam and Brian Lima. In addition there are many Samoans that have played for or are playing for the All Blacks.

Samoa have competed at every Rugby World Cup since 1991, and have made the quarter finals in 1991 (where they beat Wales and came close to upsetting eventual world champions Australia), 1995 and the second round of the 1999 world cup. At the 2003 world cup, Manu Samoa came close to beating eventual world champions, England. Samoa also play in the Pacific Nations Cup and the Pacific Tri-Nations

Rugby league

Rugby league is also popular amongst Samoans, with Samoa reaching the quarter finals of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. They also took home the cup at Wellington and the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens in 2007 - for which the Prime Minister of Samoa, also Chairman of the national rugby union, Tuila’epa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, declared a national holiday.

Many Samoans and New Zealanders or Australians of Samoan descent play in the Super League and National Leagues in Britain. Examples are Va'aiga Lealuga Tuigamala who represented the New Zealand All Blacks, then became the first million dollar player to be contract out to rugby league to play for Wigan, then played rugby union for Newcastle Falcons before representing Samoa. Ta'ane Lavulavu of Workington Town, Maurie Fa'asavalu of St Helens and David Fatialofa of Whitehaven.

American football

About 30 ethnic Samoans, many from American Samoa, currently play in the National Football League. A 2002 article from ESPN estimated that a Samoan male (either an American Samoan, or a Samoan living in the 50 United States) is 40 times more likely to play in the NFL than a non-Samoan American. [1]

Cricket

The Samoan cricket team became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 2000. In 2005, they competed in the East Asia/Pacific Cup, finishing in last place, thus missing out on qualification for the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Martial arts

Samoans have been very visible in American professional wrestling, despite the relatively small population of the islands. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Peter Maivia, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Umaga/Jamal, Rosey, Yokozuna, Wild Samoans, The Headshrinkers, Rikishi, Samoa Joe, and Sonny Siaki all have a Samoan heritage.

The former sumo wrestlers Konishiki, who reached the rank of Ozeki (champion), and Musashimaru, who reached the pinnacle rank of yokozuna (grand champion), are of Samoan descent

Several boxers and kickboxers are of Samoan descent, including former heavyweight contender David Tua, K-1 World Champion Mark Hunt as well as K-1 Super Heavyweight contenders Ray Sefo, Mighty Mo and Jason Suttie and also Jimmy Thunder.

Pacific Games

Between August and September 2007 Samoa hosted the 2007 Pacific Games, the second time the country has hosted the region-specific multi-sport event since the Games inception in 1963.