Fiji rugby apologizes for racist comment vs Phl Volcanoes

Just as the ugly racism issue revolving around the Philippine Azkals started to die down, another one popped up in the unlikeliest of all places: the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament, where 24 of the best teams in the world played over the weekend, including the Philippine Volcanoes. The Filipinos were first-timers and the lowest-ranked team invited to the tournament considered one of the premiere rugby events globally. The country was issued its first-ever invitation when the team performed outstandingly at the Asian Men’s Championships last year.

The Volcanoes, ranked 71st in the world, were not expected to win, but did impress the other, more established countries. The Nationals fell to Canada (ranked 13th in the world), 33-5, then succumbed to Spain (rated 19th) 21-5, before putting a scare into 33rd-ranked Zimbabwe and losing a fiercely close battle, 21-17. Considering that the country wasn’t even officially playing international rugby six years ago, this is an eye-opening achievement. Almost all of the players from other teams in Hong Kong grew up playing the sport in their home countries.

But staining the Volcanoes’ gallant effort was an uncalled-for post on Twitter from @fijirugby Saturday evening which said, “The only thing Philippines about the Philippine team playing in the Hong Kong 7s is the name of the team.”

Fiji Rugby is ranked number 16 in the world by the International Rugby Board.

All of a sudden, a non-stop barrage of complaints and fiery, emotional replies deluged Fiji Rugby’s website, and its Facebook and Twitter accounts. Filipino football fans in the country and abroad, still calming down after rising to defend their soccer team from harsh comments broadcast by a local news anchor, were riled up again, this time against a foreign institution in the sport, no less. Many interpreted it as hitting their team when it was down. Needless to say, many of the comments are not fit to print.

Just two hours after the tweet went on-line, it was removed, and Fiji Rugby’s official Facebook page bore this message: “To all our friends from the Philippines an unreserved apology... there was never an intention to be racist or disrespectful. It was a tongue in cheek comment that shouldn’t have been made. Our humble apologies.”

Though the majority of those who posted replies accepted the apology, some were not content, and still vented their displeasure. Apparently, the attempt at humor was lost on almost all Filipinos who read it. Another two hours later, the Facebook page posted another apology.

“Friends – you’ll find the comment has now been removed from both our Facebook and Twitter sites. For us this is a lesson well learned. Once again our humble apologies.”

When reached for comment in at the Hong Kong Sevens, Philippine Volcanoes team captain Jake Letts told The STAR, “We have no control of it. In most cases we are half-Filipino, half-Australian; the only control we have is who we choose to play for. And we choose the Philippines.”

The Volcanoes, who have consistently fielded several brothers (in 2010 putting four pairs of siblings on the roster), have done everything to be model citizens of their mother country. In a pre-tournament feature on the team broadcast on cable throughout Southeast Asia, Letts was heard exhorting his teammates at a practice in Hong Kong to do their best “honor our mothers and grandparents”. On their own, the players have learned the Philippine national anthem “Lupang Hinirang” so they may be able to sing it in full before every match.

When this writer asked him to evaluate the team’s spirit after their losses in Hong Kong, Letts said “We have a positive attitude. Good teams learn from these experiences and no doubt next year we will know what to expect on the world’s biggest stage.”

Upon their return, the Volcanoes prepare to host their first international tournament, the Asian Five Nations (A5N) Level 1 tournament in April. Having already beaten the other countries which will be coming, the Volcanoes are optimistic of a repeat, which will get them promoted to the Elite level. The Volcanoes’ medium-term goal is stay in the top two in Asia, and earn an invitation to the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. This June, the country is also hosting the Asian Women’s Championship. Both the A5N and Asian Women’s will be broadcast by ESPN internationally and ABS-CBN in the Philippines.

In the meantime, the Volcanoes continue to shrug off like so much dirt any and all criticism about what they look like and what last names they carry. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what names they wear on the backs of their jerseys. What is important is what name they choose to represent on the front of their uniforms.

And that name is Philippines.

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The International Institute for Film and the Arts (IIFA) will hold its fourth Basic Broadcasting workshop beginning this Thursday, March 29 up to Saturday, March 31. Veteran sports broadcaster and ASEAN Basketball League anchorman Noel Zarate will once again be workshop master. The IIFA was founded in 2008 by theater professionals Crispo Mojica and Dennis Marasigan. For inquiries, call or text +639276063388. To register online, go to http://fs20.formsite.com/iifa/form1/index.html.