Samoa’s national rugby
body, Lakapi Samoa, is caught in a high-stakes political
stand-off with the government as the country’s prime
minister refuses to sign off on a multi-million-dollar
Australian government funding deal because his political
opponent sits on the union’s board as its
chairman.
La’aulialemalietoa (La’auli) Leuatea
Polataivao Fosi Schmidt has warned that if the entire
management does not stand down, including Lakapi Samoa
chairman and former Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele
Malielegaoi, his administration, together with former Samoa
rugby players and supporters, will establish a rival
union.
The Australian government, through the Veimoana
Partnership, makes AU$150 million available to Fiji, Samoa
and Tonga. The five-year deal is aimed at developing rugby
in the region, boosting rugby and economic development in
the island nations.
La’auli wants the current Lakapi
Samoa board and management completely out of the
picture.
He claims rugby in Samoa is in disarray
because of the current Lakapi Samoa
management.
According to the government-owned Savali
Newspaper, La’auli has held meetings with Rugby Australia
and World Rugby and raised the process for allocating the
stalled funds.
“Asking them, if the government signs,
then what is next, what will it do with the funds, where
will it go – to the rugby union, yet it sees major
governance issues existing there he said,” the newspaper
reported.
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Tuilaepa told
Newsline Samoa that the deal was agreed to and
expected by the three unions.
He said while the Fijian
and Tongan prime ministers signed the deal, the rpocess in
Samoa was delayed after former Prime Minister Fiame Naomi
Mata’afa’s government fell, triggering the 2025 general
election and a subsequent change in
leadership
Tuilaepa claimed when La’auli became prime
minister “he refused to sign [the Veimoana Partnership]
because he wanted to sack all the members of Lakapi Samoa]
Board”.
“Australia is not unaware of the problems that
Samoa [rugby] is facing … politicising by La’auli, and it
is not a good attitude for a leader.”
According to
World Rugby rules, a national union must be independent from
government inteference.
Lakapi Samoa risks being
suspended or expelled from World Rugby membership if the
governing body see’s the government’s actions as interfering
in the union’s internal affairs.
If La’auli follows
through with his threat to start a new union, Samoa could
face an immediate ban.
Tuilaepa said “there is nothing
wrong” with the Lakapi Samoa Board.
“In fact, since I
was involved, not because I was a politician but because I
was a player, and a person keen on encouraging professional
sporting opportunities for our young people.”
RNZ
Pacific has reached out to Lakapi Samoa for
comment.
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