When you watch rugby it is common to see Pacific-island nations dominating the game. And it is the curiosity of many people why is the Pacific islander dominates the sports. Specially Fiji which has been remaining successful in the rugby seven World Cup by winning over 8 times since joining.
Among all professional athletes of rugby, 10 to 20% come from Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. Among them, the rugby player from Fiji has been extraordinarily successful and displays superhuman performance.
As the result of impressive performance from Fijian players, their team is one of the most competitive and successful teams in rugby 7 histories.
So we will look into Why is Fiji so good at rugby? Fiji rugby players are naturally big, strong, and faster than most other Nations. I think poverty, and industrially backwardness is other reasons to encourage all the population to join rugby.
Who brought it?
After the 19th century, the British and the new Zealanders introduce rugby to Fijians. However, they’ve become one of the most successful rugby nations within a few hundred years. At that time who believed these forest Nations will rule the rugby world?
Like Brazilians, the Fijians considered rugby as their religion. Most often you will see all the young people praying the sport using plastic-made oval-shaped balls because they don’t have money to buy a real rugby ball.
Why does Fijian dominate rugby 7’s?
Fijian are very good at rugby 7’s because it is only a 14-minute game with 7 people on each side running for the score. Using their physical strength and speed, they easily outrun and outperform the opponent. But in other formats, this type of speed and strength do not work in the same way.
Why is Fiji so good at rugby?
The superhuman strength with an athletic mindset makes Fijian good at rugby. The natural ability to gain muscle and genetically gifted body structure helps them gain speed and strength while 30% of the entire population officially participating helps extraordinary players to come out.
Season | Place |
1999-00 | Runner-up |
2000-01 | 3rd |
2001-02 | 4th |
2002-03 | 3rd |
2003-04 | 4th |
2004-05 | Runner-up |
2005–06 | Champion |
2006-07 | Runner-up |
2007–08 | 4th |
2009–10 | Runner-up |
2010–11 | 4th |
2011–12 | Runner-up |
2012–13 | 3rd |
2013–14 | 3rd |
2014–15 | Champion |
2015–16 | Champion |
2016–17 | 3rd |
2017–18 | 2nd |
2018–19 | Champion |
2019–20 | 3rd |
2020–21 | |
2019–20 |
National Sports:
Rugby is the national sport of Fiji and is almost 13% to 14% of all population, however, the real number could be much higher because all the citizens might not be registered as to be players, or participate in rugby on regular basis.
Natural physic
The people of Fiji are naturally strong and healthy. They are genetically suited to gain muscle mass faster than any other Nation around the world. They are likely to be twice as strong as other Nations around the world. Their shoulder is big, arms are strong and muscular, faster, and stronger which makes them unbeatable in the rugby game.
For example, you can think of a 13 years old boy who gained 90 kilos of weight and a mature athlete with over 120 kilos. To stop an extraordinary Fijian player, you will need half of your defense just to slow him down and another half to stop him.
So genetically gifted large bodies with strong determination are giving Fiji Rugby team that success.
Rugby craze
All the people of Fiji love rugby; they love participating in rugby comparing other countries around the world. Almost 30% of all Fijians registered to be players which is much higher compared to 1% from New Zealand.
So Fiji can bring much bigger emotion to rugby. This is why they are gaining so many extraordinary players. When 30% of your entire population is willing to be professional rugby athletes then you can imagine every person in your country is playing rugby for fun.
The enter population backs rugby to achieve the greatest success.
Poverty
As an Industrially backward and isolated country, they have no choice other than to become successful in their life. There is no other work that is giving them so many opportunities to lead a successful life other than rugby. An average rugby player earns $15000 early. The professional once makes an even higher salary.
Could you believe that rugby makes 20% of the total GDP? When a sport offers so much potential it is natural that people will love that sport and they will use whatever they have to achieve it.
Besides, there are fewer opportunities for jobs. There are so many local clubs that are trying to push their members to a certain performance level and win a foreign contract.
National heroes
Rugby players are considered National heroes of Fiji. They give the youth hope and prosperity to become a successful citizen and become a national Hero through rugby. So it becomes the dream of millions who wants to be like them they also want to be considered a national hero.
Higher employment opportunities
Rugby provides much higher employment opportunities for the Fiji youth. As a result of that parents are willing to send their children and invest time, energy, and money to make their children better trained and go for rugby. The young Fijian children start their rugby training from childhood and it continues the achieve success.
So the Fiji rugby team easily finds extraordinary players who dedicate their lives to the sports and are willing to achieve success at any cost.
Success rate
When a nation achieves continuous success won any sport, people become more motivated to join that sport. As the Fiji rugby team continuously wins rugby matches on the international level and achieves prestige. So their people are becoming more motivated to invest that time in that Sports.
The Fiji Rugby team achieved unbelievable success in the rugby7 tournament. Youth dreamed to join rugby and travel the world to explore the opportunities in the west.
Warrior passion:
Every Fijian warrior grew up with passion. Pure love for rugby, a passion that rises from the depths of the heart, encourages every player to give their best.
Tolerance:
Where poverty strikes every day, hunger strikes every human being in a country where natural disasters are a daily occurrence, it is natural for people to be more tolerant than others.
Evidence of this can be seen in the cyclone of 2016; Where the players’ homes were destroyed, they did not stop winning gold at the Olympic Games. The 2021 corona epidemic, which cannot be stopped, is several times more tolerable than rugby players in any other country.
Pride:
Rugby is not a sport, rugby is arrogance to Fijians. When a game starts, the sale of the national flag of a country skyrockets, the game for which songs are sung, national holidays are declared, books are written, and the game is not only about money or honor. It has become a national pride.
Conclusion:
The fact is that every person in Fiji is related to rugby. It’s no ordinary game, it’s their pride, glory, tradition, and religion. Just as football is a part of people’s lives in Brazil, rugby is a part of their lives in Fiji. This is due to the fact that they have a naturally growing warrior mentality and extraordinary physique that makes them more suitable for rugby than players from other countries.