Mosman - from one village to another

A suburb in Sydney can be like Samoa?

So says President of Mosman Junior Rugby, Jerry Meades, talking about their home suburb close to one of the city’s famous landmarks.

“We are from Mosman, a suburb of Sydney and it’s near the zoo in Sydney,” said Mr. Meades, explaining what brings them all the way to Samoa. While most people here think of Sydney as a big city with tall buildings, there are also areas that are green, leafy and small.

“So Mosman is a very village community and rugby is the core part of that,” said Mr. Meades.

“Also it’s right on the Sydney Harbour so it’s basically a sea and water community and so it’s very similar to Samoa.”

That similarity is no doubt helping the team achieve its other objective – to soak up the village culture of Samoa while here on their eight day tour. Mosman Tour Manager, Andrew Groth, said that “the big part for us is not only playing rugby but also the boys learning about Samoa and having the lovely cultural experience here.”

That aspect was a new one for teens. “One, we expect them to learn about different cultures, that’s very important because some of the boys on this tour have never been outside of Australia before.

“Some them have never been overseas and even for the boys that have been overseas, have never been to Samoa before and some of them, maybe, they might have some experience in Pacific Islands but not much.

“So it’s learning about the culture in Samoa and the Pacific Islands in general, so it’s learning about culture.

“I also think it’s learning about different people,” said Mr. Groth.

The teens will have much more time for people and culture because they have been cut off from their usual entertainment – mobile phones.

“One of the really good things I like about this tour is our children at home, they spend far too much time playing with digital devices and computers.

“However on our trip here we tell them, you don’t bring that, you don’t bring your phone and you don’t need your digital devices.

“So they come here and they interact with each other and with the people they meet locally and they are really friendly and so they just learn all that great communication, so it’s learning that as well.”

Mr. Groth said the other thing they “absolutely find amazing” is the singing in Samoa, describing themselves as “hopeless at it, we are not very good, so hopefully our boys will learn a little bit of that wonderful creativity that you have.”

The team kicked off their tour at Aleipata yesterday. The area is no random choice.

“We always come here to Aleipata because we know this area was affected by the tsunami so we come trying to spend some money, show some spirit and so that our boys learn so much out of it as well, and it’s a wonderful education for our boys,” said Mr. Groth. “It’s a way of us trying to help as well.”

Every school they go to they donate rugby boots, jersey, t-shirts, water bottles and equipment for rugby. Yesterday, Mosmon Juniors went to the Congregational Church at Saleapaga and donated $2,000 to help them fix up their sports court.

“Every year we come and go to church there with Rev Uaea and so it’s great that we were able to help, and then the computers at Aleipata.

“Each game we will donate some things to schools just to help them, with rugby equipment and so forth.” At the age of 14, trips like this one come at a time when they are looking to be more independent and start maturing into young men, he said.

“This is a great way to bring them together into a group and work as a team, just help them with a little bit of guidance but let them sort of learn on their own as well.”

There is one major difference between Mosmon and Samoa, however.

“The only thing is that the boys find it really hot, it’s a lot hotter here than in Sydney. “So when we were playing our games today, they were very strong in the first half but they were definitely feeling the heat in the second half and they slowed down a little bit.

“The Samoan boys that we played against are much more used to the heat.”

With an overnight flight from Sydney, without sleep, and the heat a few of them had “a bit of a tummy bug” but, she’ll be right, “that’s all part of the experience and learning to overcome that.

Mosmon Juniors played Aleipata College yesterday while today they return to the college to donate computers to the school.

Unlike other donations brought into the country, Mosmon is also supporting local business, picking the computers up yesterday afternoon from Island Rock.

Tomorrow they play against Palalaua College spending Easter Celebration with them before moving to Apia.

On Saturday, the Mosmon Juniors play a Samoan national team. Next year, the team will return with other, different players the same age, on what is becoming an annual sojourn for Mosmon teens.