The village of Namatakula is Fiji’s rugby talent hotbed. But because of climate change, the national sport can hardly be practiced there anymore.
Fiji has an undisputed number one sport: rugby. Around 80,000 of the almost 900,000 inhabitants of the holiday paradise in the South Pacific are registered rugby players – and almost everyone else practices the sport as a hobby or follows it closely when their homeland plays for the title in international tournaments.
Olympic crown made in Namatakula
The Fiji Islands are currently the most successful nation in rugby. In Tokyo, the “Flying Fijians” last year Olympic gold and thus repeated their success from 2016 in rugby sevens. In 1997 and 2005 the country from Oceania also celebrated the world championship in this discipline.
This is made possible above all by a 600-person village called Namatakula. Dozens of young men from the small town on the southern tip of the main island have become rugby stars. Lote Tuqiri and Nemani Nadolo are two of the most popular players who started playing rugby in Namatakula, with many other later internationals following suit.
The stars do it in crowds
“Almost every year one of our players makes it. We don’t know if it’s our genes, food or water – but we do produce players every year that become popular in Fiji or around the world“, says the villager Inosi Kuridrani.
But the country’s greatest talent factory is in great danger. Today’s stars got their rugby roots on the sandy beaches of Namatakula, and they still claim the underground is an advantage. But the beach is history.
The climate destroys the venues
Rising sea levels due to climate change have washed away the sand, and powerful hurricanes have wreaked havoc. The remains of the beach are now full of stones and boulders that are supposed to protect the village from the next big wave. “The places where rugby used to be played no longer exist“says Kuridrani.
Of course, the sport is still practiced – on the only remaining playing field in the village. Which must not be used when it rains, so as not to destroy this place. “We now want a sea wall to save this pitch for our children and for the rugby teams. We only have this one“, says village chief Josevata Nagausaukula, who himself played professional rugby in France for eight years.
Urgent request to the industrial world
“Rugby has done so much for us, both economically and in our social development“, says Nagausauukula. “I’m really scared of what’s going to happen in the next few years. What will be there for the next generations? I’m really worried about our descendants, our children, our grandchildren.”
Resident Kuridani therefore makes an appeal to the nations that are primarily responsible for climate change: “I would ask the big countries that are considered big polluters: Think of the small nations in the Pacific Ocean. Especially to the Fiji Islands, and especially to our village.”
Resettlement is a big issue
But it is questionable how long the village of Namatakula will exist at all. The climate emergency has been in effect on the Fiji Islands since 2021, and scientific studies will be carried out until the end of 2022 to determine which villages are particularly at risk. These will then be given preferential treatment in the event of resettlement.
It would come as no surprise to local residents that Namatakula will be there. But she is certain: “We don’t want to leave our village. We would probably lose our culture. And we don’t want that.” And so the village fights every day to save itself and rugby paradise.