Sports
The main sports played in Samoa are rugby union and Samoan cricket (kirikiti). About 30 ethnic Samoans, many from American Samoa, currently play in the NFL. 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. A number have also ventured into professional wrestling. Soccer is a popular sport in Samoa, with the national team being ranked 149th in the world.
Rugby union is the most popular sport in Samoa. The national team is consistently competitive against teams from vastly more populous nations. Samoa have competed at every Rugby World Cup since 1991, and have made the quarter finals in 1991, 1995 and 1999. Samoa also play in the Pacific Nations Cup. 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 Douglas Faaee, Pat Lam and Brian Lima. In addition, there are many Samoans that have played for or are playing for the All Blacks.
Rugby league is a popular sport in Samoa, with the national team reaching the quarter finals of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Australian rules football is a popular sport in Samoa, played as Samoa Rules with the national team, the Bulldogs, competing at the Arafura Games and the 2002 and 2005 Australian Football International Cup.
Samoans have been very visible in American professional wrestling, despite the relatively small population of the islands. Dwayne Johnson, Peter Maivia, Yokozuna, Umaga/Jamal, Manu, Rosey, Samoa Joe, Wild Samoans, The Headshrinkers, Rikishi, and Sonny Siaki all have a Samoan heritage.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Samoa
Famous quotes containing the word sports:
“In the end, I think you really only get as far as you’re allowed to get.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 87 (June 17, 1991)
“Even from their infancy we frame them to the sports of love: their instruction, behaviour, attire, grace, learning and all their words aimeth only at love, respects only affection. Their nurses and their keepers imprint no other thing in them.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)