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Samoan community backs RWC player facing IRB wrath

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 8:38a.m.

Auckland's Samoan community is standing beside a controversial rugby player set to face the wrath of the IRB this morning.

Thirty-year-old centre Eliota Sapolu has been suspended from all rugby, pending the result of today's judicial hearing, after posting tweets claiming the IRB is racist and biased.

A march - intended as a show of Samoan unity against the IRB's treatment of the tier two world cup nations - will converge on the Vero Centre in downtown Auckland in the next hour.

Organiser Efeso Collins says the community is right behind Sapolu.

“Even as a community we acknowledge that there were extreme examples used, but we’re grateful because it was those extreme examples that possibly got us the media attention and the IRB attention that we so desperately need.”

Eliota Sapolu likened the IRB's scheduling of Samoa's pool matches to the holocaust.

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Comments [8]

Tilo
11 Nov 2011 12:22a.m.

i totally agree with jer. its a sport and no one got treated,tortured or killed in RWC compared to that of the holocaust. it shows that he has no understanding of what it is he is fighting for. have some consideration for families and respect for all those that passed from being treated unfairly, that was not a sport.yes,he felt he was treated unfairly but noone died from it and it wont scar him for life. work harder and prove yourselves stop complaining, you knew your schedules before RWC why not bring it up then. waited until you lost a game so you could blow the situation out of proportion.

Fina
08 Nov 2011 10:38p.m.

Maybe Manu Samoa was never gonna make it to the quarter final but would have been if the IRB re-considered their decisions in so many ways...

pat
16 Oct 2011 03:09p.m.

put your feet in sapolus shoes and the rest ofhis samoans supporters then you know he is one hundred and fifty percent right

kate
15 Oct 2011 03:33p.m.

@ jer. i love when people make stupid comments that reflect on their stupid minded attitudes and lack of intelligence and competence. saying that at the end of the day samoa wouldnt of made it to the quarter finals ? thats like saying (before the game) that they wouldnt of beaten australia. or saying the irish would not of beaten australia. or tonga wouldnt beat france. Its already been established by many unbias spectators that the calls made during the samoa v s.a game were terrible. did you even watch it? the game is controlled by ref to a large degree. and the calls were BULL****. rugby greats/ high profile game commentators have agreed that there seems to be favoritism against samoa when it comes to refereeing. you must be an idiot to not see it because these people who have stated what i have just said definately have a brain. and you say your insulted bout your family who died in the holocaust?? have a cry to the nazis. I am of German descent and i had family die during that time because they were against what the nazi government were doing. yes Germans killing Germans who believed in peace. so yeah they died for sticking to what they believed in. they had morals/values- and so does eliota sapolu.

if you really had family who died because of the holocaust you should be able to relate because they were treated like shit too. Its just unfortunate that it got that far.

kate
15 Oct 2011 01:02p.m.

before anyone puts any dumb comments like "this man is an idiot" say whatever you want but put facts behind your statement of why hes an idiot. or if you start blabbing off like "how dare he compare this to the holocaust!" then you are just taking the focus off what the real issue is. despite the rather extreme comparison the main point is obvious. history explains itself. The only people that would and should support the irb are the ones on the payroll or people who dislike samoans in general. anyone with eyes and half a brain and good ethics will see the unfairness/onesidedness.

Jer
15 Oct 2011 12:56p.m.

At the end of the day, they were never going to make it to the quarter finals, so this argument is not only idiotic, it's pointless. Relating Samoa's RWC schedule to a mass genocide that killed 25 of my relatives in Auschwitz is more than insulting.

Steve
15 Oct 2011 10:58a.m.

I think you will find that the IRB is as corrupt as FIFA.

Kiwi
15 Oct 2011 09:18a.m.

Saying whats obvious to all. IRB destroy rugby for the profit of the few, same old scam.

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