Word: polynesian
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...Some fans think the Polynesian presence has made both rugby codes more exciting. Were the NRL's Islander contingent to up and leave overnight, "the game would be totally lost," says Richard Becht, an official with the NRL's New Zealand Warriors. "I guess we'd always have enough numbers, but the competition would become a throwback. In the power factor, in the entertainment factor, it would be markedly inferior." But nothing about sport is as simple as it looks. In New Zealand, where rugby is the national passion, the rise in Polynesian participation appears to be at least...
...Crunch and Run The polynesian surge has forced coaches and administrators to review old habits. As a young player, Don Feltis idolized champions of the 1950s and '60s such as Clive Churchill and Johnny Raper. Nowadays, at 73, Feltis is immersed in the new wave as the boss of junior league at the Penrith Panthers, an NRL club west of Sydney where close to half the youngsters are of Polynesian descent. It's a realm very different from league of old, in which the Islander players routinely gather to pray before matches; in which a coach couldn't connect with...
...While the Polynesian influx is enriching junior league, it's also raising tricky issues. It would be hard to find anyone who would dispute that Polynesian kids grow fast. In football, this means they tend to be bigger than their white peers at a stage of life - seven to 17 - when players lack the technical refinements that can neutralize differences in bulk. "The small kid can't help his size, and the bigger kid has done nothing wrong either," the former New South Wales Rugby League development officer Frank Barrett said recently, "but as an administrator it breaks my heart...
...distinct sides of him: the aggressive, ultra-competitive footballer and the otherwise gentle man. Young Willie would crunch his fine-boned foes, then approach them after the game to say sorry. But the smaller boys had trouble reconciling the two Willies and rarely replied. "It's a Polynesian thing," says Isa of the fever that grips him on match days. "We love the physical side. It's like a war. You can't let anyone beat...
...Most people involved in rugby and rugby league will tell you that Polynesians are naturally suited to the sports. "Oh, they're gifted athletically, there's no doubt about it," says Peter O'Sullivan, recruitment manager for the Sydney Roosters NRL club. "It's not just size. It's balance, footwork, skill and strength." But attributing Polynesians' football prowess to inherent qualities can lead to the quicksand of racial stereotyping. In focusing on the physiques of Maoris and Islanders, it's easy to overlook other, perhaps more important, factors in their growing presence in elite football - motivation, hard work...