A Rough Guide to Ha'apai - Cashless, Clueless and a little Confused

Sunset on Uoleva with dormant volcano Kao towering over the Ha'apai Group

When you think of the South Pacific the image you conjure up in your mind is Ha’apai. The Ha’apai Group (a 30 min flight north of Nuku 'Alofa) is a sparsely populated group of islands, atolls and coral cays that sit upon crystal clear, aqua-coloured water teeming with marine life. It is an amazingly beautiful place and is the perfect getaway if you like spending your days snoozing/reading/having a few beers under the shade of coconut trees before strolling down to the water for a snorkel, or in our case spear fishing If you like fast-paced days visiting tourist attraction after tourist attraction, Ha’apai is not the place for you.

Our beach on Uoleva - Coconut Trees, beach and reef... that's it

For all its’ natural beauty, the tourist infrastructure in Ha’apai is basic at best. While this is part of Ha’apai’s charm I would like to point out the following:

What not to do if you travel to Ha’apai:

• Think that you can rely on ATMs or other forms of ‘modern’ banking systems to withdraw cash or pay for services.

• Rely on the majority of locally owned accommodation providers to offer food and drinks for guests.

• Think that locally owned accommodation providers have a basic sense of customer service and can in some way, shape or form, work with foreign owned service providers (such as Scuba Diving/Whale watching businesses) to ensure visitors enjoy their stay as much as possible.

After arriving at Ha’apai’s surprisingly modern looking airport we were promptly greeted by one of the manager’s of our accommodation (Taiana’s Place). Although we had booked the previous week we were informed that there had been a mistake and that all the fales were booked for the weekend and we (myself, Tom and Bruce) would have to share a tent during our stay. Fair enough. However, on that very same flight were a couple and their child who had not booked any accommodation and on asking our manager if there were any rooms available he replied there certainly was and they were welcome to stay at Taiana’s. We laughed it off as we didn’t mind the prospect of sleeping in a tent and would more than likely be collapsing every night after consuming too many beers and Tongan rum.

The weekend was spent with Tafi in hand looking out at this view

However, as we were being driven to the boat for our transfer (Taiana’s is located on Uoleva Island – a 15-60 minute boat transfer depending on how fast the ‘captain’ decides to go) the level of Tongan-style customer service confounded us once more. We asked to stop at the one and only dive shop in Ha’apai (Fins n Fluke) as we wanted to go diving that day and get dropped off to our resort after the dives. We were told in a rambling explanation that the owner of Taiana’s would not like that very much and it would be better off to go straight to Taiana’s. We were a bit confused and insisted that we wanted to go diving. The manager stopped at the dive shop but as I got out of the car to organise the dive he said,

“Um….. I think if you go diving…. You will have to stay somewhere else”.

“Sorry?”

“If you go diving with them, the owner will not like it and you will have to stay somewhere else.”

“Right,” I said slightly confused, “can we go diving with you then?”

“Um… no” I have shortened this answer as it was a rambling Tongan-esque answer and it took us a little while to decipher exactly what he meant.

“If you go diving with them, you cannot stay with us,” the manager finished.

After a slightly awkward silent period during which we all had no idea what was going on we decided to cut our losses. We were incredibly hung-over from the night before (in fact we were lucky to make the flight after leaving home at 715am for an 8am flight, Bruce managed to get us to the airport in 15 minutes, a trip that normally takes 40 minutes) and had no idea if we were able to find another place to stay considering all other accommodation options we had called were booked out for Easter. So we decided to book diving for Monday and then stay on the main island before flying home early on Tuesday. We later learnt that the management of Taiana’s and Fins n Fluke had fallen out with each other over a number of issues ranging from Taiana’s running whale watching tours without a license to Fins n Fluke taking people diving and then transferring the customers to Uoleva, thus ensuring Taiana’s missed out on the semi-lucrative boat transfer charge.

Uoleva from the air

In one word, it was ridiculous. Fins n Fluke were more than happy to take us diving but Taiana’s wouldn’t allow it. We even offered to pay the transfer for our luggage so Taiana’s still got paid the fee but the answer was no. The question is how can an accommodation provider ‘not allow’ a guest to use another service provider? The situation perfectly encapsulates the Tongan way of doing business; they have no sense of customer service and no idea about how service now can affect your long term business. That day they actually kicked out two other couples who went diving. Those couples had to find other accommodation - luckily for us this meant we were able to sleep in a fale and not a tent - where else in the world would this happen? I would confidently wager nowhere.

Our fale complete with coconut tree leaf and garbage bag roof

Despite this start we actually had a great time on Uoleva. We spent our days chilling on the beach, drinking beers and rum (while we didn’t bring any food on the trip we brought enough alcohol to get us through four days…. Good planning!!) before going spear fishing to catch dinner and retiring to the beach to drink more beer and rum (usually warm by this stage due to a lack of fridge, esky or ice) before starting up a fire on the beach for the night. It was a great way to spend three days and the marine life was stunning. There were countless fish, beautiful coral while we also saw a number of large reef sharks, a turtle, eels and stingrays.

There were also a few characters on the island, which kept things interesting. The resort is a family run resort and the head of the family is Kalafi, a one-armed Tongan who used to be the national boxing champion of Tonga, before he lost his arm obviously. Kalafi was telling us one night that while he was born and bred on Uoleva, he discovered that he just “loved to fight” and that as a youngster he would go across to the main island of Pangai to drink and basically look for fights. This led him to take up boxing where, according to Kalafi, he quickly beat opponents from all over Tonga regardless of their weight divisions to become champion of Tonga. This was all before losing his arm in a drunken fight where he was thrown through a glass door; his arm was shattered and had to be amputated.

Kalafi

Taiana’s also had a semi-permanent resident in the American, ‘Lefty’. Lefty (we thought he may have been nicknamed Lefty as he cut Kalafi's right arm off) is 62 and has spent the past four months living at Taiana’s, he has apparently travelled to Tonga each year for the past decade and spent two to six months living on Uoleva each trip. Lefty is a retired gardener/artist/dancer/musician who would like to turn Taiana’s into an “Artist’s Colony”. Personally I thought that was code for a hippy commune where Lefty could smoke all the green he likes and spend his days producing his “modern art”. During our stay Lefty treated us to such entertainment as producing a piece of modern art (it was like one of those paintings you see sometimes where the artist has just thrown different coloured paint at the canvas and called it art), some interpretative dance at breakfast (it was all we could do to keep a straight face after waking up with rum induced hangovers to watch a 62 year old bronzed, topless man, with hair the length of his back dance interpretively for us) and some soothing music which consisted of Lefty simultaneously playing the harmonica, maracas and finger symbols.

Silhouette of Lefty

As Monday rolled around we asked for our bill before setting off to go diving and stay our final night at Matafonoa Lodge on the island of Foa. We only had 525 Pa’anga between the three of us and it turned out (partly due to the fact that Taiana’s seemed to be making up costs and inflating costs as they went along) that we didn’t have enough. At this stage we were unaware of the lack of ATMs in Pangai, the main town of Ha’apai, and asked if we could go to the bank to withdraw the extra money to pay our bill. After being transferred to the main island and visiting the bank of Pangai (which was shut due to it being Easter Monday) we learnt there was not a single ATM in the whole of Ha’apai. We were lucky that one Palangi (white person) owned business, Mariner’s Café, was open and the generous owner Magda, agreed to lend us the money. Again, the owners of Taiana’s seemed to have no idea what to do if customers didn’t have enough cash to pay their bill, however if they informed us at the time of booking that they only accepted cash (which you would think quite sensible), we would have made an effort to carry more money.

After lunch at Mariner’s Café we went diving with Brian and Sabina at Fins n Flukes. I have been living in Tonga for six months and these were my first dives and all I can say is that it was an amazing experience. The visibility was unbelievable and the marine life and coral formations were incredible. Brian and Sabina were great and I would love to travel to Ha’apai again and go diving with them once more when the whales arrive on their migration in June/July. Again we didn’t have any cash to pay our bill, however Brian and Sabina had no problem giving us their bank details to transfer the cash in at a later date.

Our final night on Ha’apai was spent at Matafonoa Lodge on Foa Island. Foa is connected to the main island of Pangai by a crudely constructed causeway and Matafonoa is located right on the tip of the island. It is a beautiful location and the accommodation is pretty decent too with a number of Tongan-style beach front fales scattered about their premises. Matafonoa is owned by an English couple, Darren and his wife (not sure we actually got her name!!), and Darren has previously worked as an underwater cameraman for all manner of documentary channels. We spent the night drinking COLD BEERS (an absolute luxury by that stage), eating a delicious home-cooked dinner and talking rubbish to Darren.

Didnt move far from these chairs most days

Ha’apai is a beautiful place and I would recommend anyone travelling to Tonga go there and spend a few nights relaxing in this beautifully isolated part of the South Pacific. The sad thing is, is that a little bit of service made all the difference in leaving a great impression. If I were to return to Ha’apai I would almost definitely stay at Matafonoa once more, this is despite Taiana’s being cheaper and arguably at a more aesthetically beautiful location. Unfortunately, the issues experienced at Taiana’s pervade elsewhere in Tonga. If Tonga is to become the truly popular tourist destination that its’ natural beauty deserves, Tongans need to learn the basic 101s’ of customer service.

Our pilot Callum ahead of our flight back - managed to get the co-pilot's seat on the flight!

Tonga from the air

A Day in the Life of a Football Coach

This blog is dedicated to those who think that being a full-time football coach in Tonga, is in some way, shape or form a bit of a bludge. While I admit that, at times, in fact on many occasions over the past six months here in Tonga, I have had little to do apart from sit at Keleti Beach with a beer, read my book and go for a few swims, now that the Tongan Major League has finished preparation for the National Team’s 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers at the South Pacific Games in August/September has stepped up. We have been training for three weeks now and the below is an example of a typical day which I will experience 4-5 times per week over the next four months as National Team Coach of Tonga.

The view from 'my spot' at Keleti

6:30am – Wake-up and get ready for the day. I usually wake up naturally at this time now due to the cacophony of farm-yard noises created by various roosters, pigs and dogs outside my window every morning. I have breakfast and a bucket shower - our indoor showers don’t work that well so instead, we fill up a bucket outside and throw it over our heads every morning much to the delight of our neighbours.

6:55am – After a five minute bike ride I arrive at the national gym to meet our Strength Coach ahead of the morning’s session.

7:00am – Group one arrives at the gym and warm-up (we currently have a squad of 32 players so divide the team into two groups for the hour long gym sessions). We dedicate two gym sessions per week to building strength and one/two sessions to core strength and agility.

9:15am – Group two finish their gym session and are transported back home in the Tonga Football Association (TFA) bus.

9:30am – After chatting with our Strength Coach and reviewing the morning’s session I usually spend 30-45 minutes in the gym doing/pretending to do my own work.

10:00am – It’s either off to Friends Café for Bombay Eggs or to Café Escape for breakfast and the luxury of air-conditioning. I use the internet here to respond to/delete the various banter emails I get from home (which can total 70+ in a day) and check the latest football news.

11:30am – Arrive at work after a 30 minute (11km) bike ride from Nuku ‘Alofa to the TFA. If it is raining or has just rained, this journey is a pain in the arse as I don’t have a mud guard on my one-gear bike and my back can be covered in mud (as it was this morning) when I arrive at work. While there are supposed to be 15 full-time workers at TFA I usually arrive to a near deserted office. Tongans are clearly not fans of work in general and we are lucky if the majority of employees turn up for more than an hour or two of work each day.

1:00pm – After a couple of hours mucking about on Facebook, email, Skype and SMH.com.au, I map out the coming week’s training sessions.

2:00pm – Sit down with my support coaches (I currently have three Tongan Assistants, including my “boss”, a Fijian Assistant, an American Strength Coach and a Swedish Physio…. Unfortunately the Swedish Physio is not a female) and explain the afternoon’s training session, their roles and the drills we will be running.

This can take some time as even if Tongans don’t understand something they will say they do anyway. It can usually take a verbal explanation accompanied with diagrams and giving a physical example out on the pitch for my Assistants to understand these drills. It does feel good however that the guys are learning and that I am building their capacity to run future training sessions by themselves. I would love to get to a point here in Tonga where I can allocate the training drills to different coaches and then ‘manage’ the session and only step in at key points… I doubt this can or will happen though.

2:45pm – Head outside into the consistently humid 25-30 degree heat to set-up the fields. I quite like this part of the day as it’s quiet and our fields are surrounded by palm trees so I find it relaxing to be wandering about my ‘office’ and when I compare my office to that of most of my friends and family back home, I realise, that for the next four-five months I am very lucky to be working in this environment.

The Office

3:15pm – Try and have a late lunch, chill out and muck about on the internet before training starts.

4:00pm – All the boys should have arrived if they have slight injuries now is the time to speak to our Swedish physio. It is much to the disappointment of the boys as well that the physio is not a Swedish female. This opinion was formed after our physio’s girlfriends, also Swedish, turned up at training last week.

4:15pm – Head out to the training fields, make sure all the boys have arrived and begin training. Training here is slightly different to anything that I have experience in the past as:

• Before and after each training session it is customary to pray.

• The boys, even the most experienced players, have never really been trained properly and each drill we do, even the most basic, is new to them. So it takes time to explain and give demonstrations of each drill and requires a bit of patience to wait for the boys to understand exactly what they should be doing before correcting technical aspects of their play.

• I don’t speak fluent Tongan but try to speak as much of it as possible. I feel I have learned the important words so far – leilei Oma (lay-lay oma) = sprint; ngaue malohi (na-u-he ma-lo-he) = work hard; fakacau’cau’ (Fa-ka-Cow-Cow – my favourite) = think; faka piko’piko (as spelt and another favourite) = lazy. I have learnt more football-specific words but those, especially the last two are my favourites.

6:15pm – As it does take a little bit of time to explain each drill and wait for translations we normally finish after close to 120 minutes. Being honest, the boys are technically not great but you would come to expect that from a bunch of amateurs who have never been trained before. However, they work incredibly hard, have a great team spirit and, most importantly, are doing their best.

6:30pm - After letting the boys cool down I usually summarise the training back in the office and take note of who has performed well and who has not. It is then my job to drive half the team back home. My job description really should be – National Team Coach/Bus Driver. Most of the boys don’t work let alone own cars so after making their way to training through a combination of running, hitch-hiking or jumping on one of the infrequent public buses, I make sure they get home as quickly as possible.

7:30-8:30pm-ish – Tonga is bigger than I expected. It takes ages to drop everyone home and I only cover half the island, my Fijian Assistant takes the boys who live out east back home and I cover the west and central parts of the island. I get home and if it’s Thursday or a Friday it is time for a beer or two and dinner in Nuku ‘Alofa and potentially some grinding at The Billfish, if not then hopefully one of my housemates has cooked dinner!

The Billy

As you can see days can be quite long; however this is balanced by the one or two days each week where we only have the afternoon session or the boys play an inter-team trial in the afternoon. On these days I generally sit at Keleti Beach with a beer, some of the freshest fish ‘n’ chips for lunch, snooze in the sun, read my book and swim in the balmy South Pacific until it is time to get back on the bike for a five minute ride back to work for training.

Not a bad way to spend a year!!

Keleti Beach

N.B. - Its Friday here which invariably means the internet is rubbish so I have only been able to upload two photos. I will try and upload more as the afternoon goes on.

Five Months In Tonga

After a hard earned 10 day break I have returned to life as a football coach and realised I am now sitting a few days short of five months in The Kingdom of Tonga. I thought I’d do a quick ‘state of play’ blog on the frustrations, and all of the good things, to do with living in Tonga.

The Frustrations

The People – I want to be quick to point out that The People also make my ‘Good things’ list however ‘frustrating’ is certainly the word to describe dealing with some Tongans. Tongans have a carefree, stress-free outlook on life, which I adore, however if you want to get something done at work, are in a hurry (for whatever reason, usually you are not in a hurry here) then Tongans are not who you want to be dealing with. It recently took my accountant here four months to pay one invoice to a supplier I sourced in Australia, you can spend most of your day (as I can never be bothered to do it myself I rely on friends’ stories here) trying to get a driver’s licence at the Ministry of Transport or trying to pay a power/water bill. Efficiency is not what Tongans do best.

It is also hard to get a definitive answer out of Tongans, especially if they have not done as you have requested at work, don’t want to do any work or don’t know the answer to a question. If Tongans don’t know the answer to something, do not understand something or just can’t be bothered to do any work they will often just lie and say they have done what has been requested, or do understand your point in order to get out of having to answer that question or to get out of having to do work associated with your request/question. Tongans are lazy, and if you want something done or you don’t want to spoon feed answers to Tongans at work, i.e. promote free thinking, then it can be quite frustrating having to continually repeat yourself or ask questions over and over again.

What they are good at is looking after and caring for their family and friends. However this can become blatant nepotism in the workplace. It almost must be stated that Tongans, in general, HATE change. Recently, 150 police men and women signed a petition calling for the sacking of the New Zealand Police Commissioner here in Tonga. The reason behind the petition? The Kiwi had the gall to introduce reforms in promotion procedures which seek to reward those that perform well and have the merit and experience to justify higher levels of authority. The 150 officers who signed the petition want to return to the ‘old ways’ (circa 1968) wherein the Chief of Police could simply promote people how he wished, which normally relied upon family connections, if they were friends of family, or if they went to the same church as him.

Tonga is good at sunsets - credit Alice Bowen for this shot from Eua

Hierarchical Society – Tonga is very much a hierarchical society. On top of the societal pyramid you have The King, followed by The Nobles (who tend to hold most positions of power within institutions here in Tonga) and then the plebs. This hierarchical society can most obviously manifest itself in work situations. I am quite lucky to work in an open workplace where everyone can speak freely, however my mate Tom has told stories of going into meetings for the Ministry of Environment where workers refuse to offer opinions in case they may differ from the opinion of the Minister, a Noble. This phenomenon also manifests itself in other situations here in Tonga, and I hate it, mainly because I think people should be able to say what they want whether they are speaking to a noble, princess or pleb.

Mosquitos and wasps – Every day I am attacked by one or the other. I cannot sit at home in my hammock without being assaulted by mozzies and even now as I sit at my desk here at work there are what seems like hundreds of wasps circling me like sharks ready to pounce and sting me. My fear of wasps in now well founded after being attacked by a swarm (of four) wasps in ‘Eua.

Tongan Drivers – Tongan drivers are without doubt the worst I have come across in the world. To put this into context, there are pretty much only three or four main roads here in Tonga and you can only go up to 40km per hour on 95% of the roads here yet Tongans still drive like it is their first time behind the wheel every time they get in a car. The only time people here are ever in a rush is when they are trying to merge into traffic after stopping at an intersection. Either people have no sense of depth perception in judging gaps in traffic or it simply doesn’t register that one car could potentially hit another. Tongan drivers always seemed shocked when they have to stop at an intersection before merging into traffic and will do all they can to ensure their car does not stop. More often than not this involves accelerating into traffic so, when I have been driving, I quite literally have to stop in the middle of the road to make sure there isn’t a collision.

I am sure that if you spoke to other people who have lived here for five months they would have different frustrations such as: petty crime (the latest robbery of one of Tomasi’s bikes is worth a mention here but when we get to the bottom of what happened I will report it in a blog), the food, the police, their work, the church etc. But I have been quite lucky in that I have not been directly affected by most of these aspects of society, or can get on fine for example, without have a $10 steak every week from my local pub. So I will now move onto the things I love about living in Tonga.

An overly friendly local, he/she was getting a bit too close!

The Good things in life

The Lifestyle – My lifestyle here is amazing. I have come from sitting in an office for 9+hours each day and having to sit on a bus for an hour or more each day in peak hour traffic, to spending most of my time at work outdoors, riding my bike to and from work each day and, on most days, being able to spend my lunch breaks at the beach rather than in an air conditioned office. Tonga is not the place to live if you don’t like being active or being outdoors or if you are so desperately ambitious you cannot take a ‘gap year’. I am lucky in that my work place is effectively a football field, each morning my housemates and I are either in the harbour swimming, going for a jog, or if you really can’t be bothered with strenuous exercise you can simply take a snorkel down to the harbour and snorkel for an hour before going to work.

Weekends are also consumed with activities (Erin hope you enjoyed that!) as on Saturday if I am not playing or coaching football I will soon be playing cricket in the local Twenty20 competition or take part in the weekly bi/triathlon (I made my debut last week and was beaten by Tomasi by 66 seconds…. I’ll beat him one week!). Sundays are then filled with getting out on a boat to Sunday Club Island or getting a mate’s boat out to go fishing, snorkelling, wakeboarding around the harbour. I am about as fit and healthy as I have been in quite a few years.

If you like the sun, being outdoors and exercising then Tonga is the perfect place to live for a year.

Snorkelling at the shipwreck off Sunday Club Island

On the boat before a few beers and wakeboarding

My job – As I have touched on this in previous blogs I won’t go into it in too much detail here but for as long as I can remember I have wanted to coach football full-time. I have now been given the chance and plan on enjoying it! Every day we are at a school or in a community coaching young kids and as of Monday I will officially be the national team coach here when training for our World Cup Qualifiers in August/September kicks off.

The Food – If you like fresh, cheap seafood (and you would be made not to), then Tonga is your heaven. Last week I bought two kilos of fresh tuna from the fish market for 18 Pa’anga, or 10 Australian Dollars. Ten Dollars for two kilos of the freshest tuna you can get anywhere! We also bought seven crayfish for 40 Pa’anga, about 25 Aussie! The quality is amazing and it’s just too cheap not to buy it! There are plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables about too and if you can deal with a few vegetarian meals each week among a mainly seafood-based diet, like I can, then you will love the food in Tonga.

Underwater at a shipwreck

The People – In general Tongans are relaxed, easy-going, super-friendly people. As with any country on this Earth there are the bad eggs that can tarnish a country’s reputation (look at a lot of Aussie backpackers or Kiwis in general ;)) but there are not many places I have been where people will wave to you as you walk or ride your bike down the street. This became apparent when I went to New Zealand and started smiling and lifting my head (as people here do to say hi) at people and no-one was returning my gesture, and in fact most people looked the other way and quickened their pace away from me. People here are genuinely friendly and once you get to know a Tongan they will be loyal and welcome you into their home as they would an old friend or a family member.

There is also a lot to learn from Tongans in relation to the ‘important things in life’. People here are not rich, most houses are home to more than one family and people do not have a lot of commercial possessions, but they are happy. They are happy because there is not enough time in life to stress or to worry about the little things in life that can get you down and as long as they are in good health, have their family and friends around them, a Tongan is content. There is a lot Western societies could learn from this approach to life.

Back in The Kingdom

I have been back in Tonga now for a little over a week and I have just realised how much I love island life. While it also appears the TFA are getting their house in order now - we had three staff meetings in as many days - unheard of for this organisation - and they have even started forward planning to the South Pacific Games in August of this year.

As part of that planning, I have been made the Head Coach of the National Men's Team. For me, it is the greatest honour I have achieved so far in coaching, and, if I am to be honest, I doubt that I will ever have this sort of opportunity again. The reason being is that the South Pacific Games doubles up as the first leg of the 2014 World Cup Qualification campaign for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). At this stage it hasn't really sunk in that I will be coaching in a FIFA World Cup match, but it's a great honour and I want to make sure that we give it our best shot to get some decent results there.

As it stands, no-one here at the TFA is expecting much from the team. However, I believe that if we get the players fit, keep the system uncomplicated and the players are enjoying themselves then we may be able to affect a couple of upsets at the tournament. The one thing I am sure of is there is no way our results will mirror the Under 17 results!

Queenstown - from my four week trip to NZ in Jan

So why did I get the job? Well, if I am being honest it was by default really. The TFA cannot afford to recruit another overseas coach and the only Tongan here capable of leading the team (my boss Kilifi) has been promoted to the OFC Technical Study Group and therefore unable to coach a national team at any OFC event. For those of you not too familiar with football, the Technical Study Group's job is to observe all matches at a FIFA event and compile a report on the technical and tactical quality of play at that event. For Kilifi, and Tongan football in general, it is a massive achievement and one of the highest positions a coach can hold. So after ruling out Kilifi and an overseas coach, the Executive Committee (clearly impressed by the U17's defensive record) decided that I was to be the coach.

As I said before, it is an honour to be in this position and one day I'll be able to look back and say that as a 25 year old coach I was able to be involved in a FIFA World Cup match, which for me, is pretty special.

Other than that it is pretty much business as usual back in The Kingdom. The lovely Tonia has moved into The Lodge which means the days of The Lodge being a bachelor pad are over. However, Tonia is easy to live with and not a bad cook either which is always a plus! The Lodge is also currently having a few water issues which has meant that all three of us have been 'showering' from a bucket in our backyard. I'm not sure whether our conservative Tongan neighbours have appreciated seeing two blokes in jocks and a girl in a bikini throwing buckets of water over each other every morning but I am fast enjoying the bucket-shower and actually prefer it to the dribble of cold water our showers offer!

I have also had first hand experience of a robbery here in Tonga, although I was passed out (from a few too many beers) at the time of the robbery! Last Saturday we went to a party hosted by the Pilots here in Tonga. They live in a protected compound in what you would call Nuku 'Alofa 'suburbia'. However, despite the premises being surrounded by a tall barb-wire fence it appears a few locals have become adept at breaking in, and also quite brazen in their attempts to steal from the compound.

I had my phone stolen, along with Duane's laptop and another phone from a house in the compound that night. What made the robbery quite astounding was that there were five people asleep/passed out in the house at the time (including me on the couch - approximately 3m away from the laptop) and Tom on the floor of the living room. So essentially what the thief had to do was watch the house until it became apparent that everyone was asleep and then open one of the doors, tip-toe over the semi-naked Tom sprawled on the floor, disconnect the laptop from the power without waking anyone and then climb the barb wire fence and make off with their loot.

The robbery was quite an accomplishment in cat-burglary really but what is very apparent is that we all clearly had way too much to drink that night to not even stir as a stranger walked through the house stealing electronics left, right and centre! As usual the police did nothing on Sunday morning apart from ask if they could take some breadfruit from the tree that is just outside the house so we may well be going to see the Tongan witch doctor who Helen and Josie visited after their house was broken into!

A day at the races in Wellington

N.B - I'll stick up a few more shots from NZ when I get the chance too!

Goals For: 2, Goals Against: 46

Sometimes I just don’t understand the world. I am drafting this sitting on a Jetstar flight bound for Queenstown after two weeks in Auckland coaching at the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Under 17’s Championship, which doubled as the region’s World Cup Qualifiers for this year’s FIFA Under 17 World Cup. Sitting in the row in front of me is one of the most gorgeous girls I have ever seen. Sitting next to her is her boyfriend - a white, European version of Erkel. As I said, sometimes I just don’t understand the world.

What I do understand is that Tongan football needs a lot of work. You may gather from the title that we got thrashed in all four of our games at the tournament and that on the surface it would be impossible to describe the Tongan performance at the tournament a success, but I think it was. While we lost 8-0 to Tahiti, 15-0 to the Solomon Islands, 17-0 to New Caledonia and 6-2 to the Cook Islands (and I have never lost like that before ever in my life!) our performances at the tournament have opened the eyes of the people that count at the OFC and within the Tongan Football Association (TFA) that the current way of doing things cannot continue.

Let me put our results into perspective. For each game I was forced to field a minimum of three to six players that were aged 13-15. Each team we played against fielded sides with 16 year olds, as expected at an U17 tournament. My boys had never played in fast, tough, competitive matches of this kind and had five weeks of proper football training under their belts. All of our opposition, including the Cook Islands, were trained in national academies since the age of ten and had played in competitive matches their whole lives. We didn’t stand a chance. All the players we came up against were not only vastly technically superior (i.e. they knew how to control, pass, play accurate long passes, defend in one on one situations etc) but they clearly understood the game. The opposition were always one (or five) steps ahead of us. My boys would react to situations rather than anticipate situations. It would take a long ball to be played over our defence for them to turn and chase rather than anticipating the long ball (through reading the game) and defending appropriately as a unit to counter the threat. No matter how much you train, you cannot substitute the value of matches in developing a player’s understanding of the game.

Vs. Cook Islands

As a side note, I was also surprised at the level of quality (ourselves excepted) at the tournament. I thought (rather naively) going into this tournament that the level of the NSW Premier League (where I used to coach with Manly United) would be superior. But if the Manly United Under 17 side turned up at this tournament they would be pummeled and embarrassed in each game, not to the extent Tonga was however!

One of 15 goals against the Solomons

Now while all this sounds largely negative, it isn’t. For me the highlight was our second half performance against the Cook Islands. After having one of our best players sent off, we played for 40 minutes with ten men and managed to win the second half 2-1. This showed me (and members of the TFA’s Executive Committee who were in attendance) that we do have some talent to work with in the future. Another positive has been the networking opportunities that have presented themselves throughout the course of the tournament. I was lucky enough to have a meeting with the head of Technical Development for the OFC, I attended training sessions and chatted with the coaches of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, American Samoa and Vanuatu and now have many ideas that I can take back to Tonga for the future. A number of these conversations have also led to possible job opportunities in the future, if I am so inclined.

The results and the performances of the boys, coupled with the networking opportunities I have had, will also lend further weight to my arguments that Tonga needs a fully functioning national academy in order to develop talent for the future. My job is now to go away and pen a report on the preparation and performance of the team and provide recommendations on how Tonga can move forward.

Our GK was the centre of attention in every match!

I have been told to be brutally honest in my summation by the TFA’s new Secretary General and am optimistic that a number of my recommendations will be taken on board. If they are, my job in Tonga will now be to establish a fully functioning youth academy over the next six months. That is, establish a means of selecting talent, devise a curriculum and talent pathway to ensure all players (boys and girls) train and play year round and develop a framework to develop and educate Tongan coaches to work at the academy and also in the wider community. I will do this while also assisting to prepare the national men’s and women’s team for the South Pacific Games in New Caledonia this August. If this is the case it will be a busy (relatively busy anyway – I am in Tonga after all) six months and a chance for me to leave a bit of a legacy for future Tongan coaches and Tongan players.

However, if for whatever reason the TFA decide against establishing a national academy (and I know budgetary issues are not a concern as I have had assurances from the OFC they will assist with money to establish the academy) then I will need to rethink my position in Tonga and whether it is worth hanging around while nothing changes for no good reason.

Note – New Zealand from the air is absolutely amazing. We are just flying over the South Island as I type this and there have been snow-capped volcanoes and mountains a tapestry of rivers intersecting each, golden beaches and awesome coast line the whole way. I am going to spend the next two and a bit weeks here on holiday driving from Queenstown back to Auckland via Mt. Cook, the west coast, Nelson and Wellington. I cannot wait and have a sneaky feeling I am going to fall in love with the South Island of New Zealand, either way it’s finally a chance to eat good food, drink good beers, catch up with a few people and perhaps convince the Euro in front of me to ditch Erkel!

Getting ready for Tahiti

Right now I am sitting in a horrible little internet cafe in Auckland after finishing our last training session ahead of our first game tomorrow against Tahiti. I realise that my tone was probably a bit narky in my last blog but I was just frustrated at what was going on. However, everyone there at the TFA that I deal with worked hard to convince the Executive Committee to allow the team to play and we now have the privilege of playing a World Cup Qualifying game tommorrow.

When it comes to coaching I have an ultra competitive nature as I just want my team to play to the best of their ability and to ultimately win. In the last day or so I have started to realise that winning isn't everything all the time and, as I was explained last night, "there will be life after the games." I know the boys will do their best for me and the fact is we are playing a team that is technically superior to us and have been together for 18 months training and playing over 20 games. We have been together for six weeks and played four games. While I desperately want to win, I think it is more important to feel proud to represent their country and to perform to the best of their ability.

I have also realised this trip is not just about football. I made the decision to live and work in Tonga based on the premise that I would get a chance to coach in an international competition. At 24, I now have that chance but my determination to do well here as led me to worry about 'little things' of no consequence and miss the bigger picture.

I think back now a couple of days to the plane trip here when we were flying over Auckland at approximately 1am in the morning (we were delayed 90 mins due to there being one person on the customs desk at Nuku 'Alofa and everyone having to line up in single file to get through) and the youngest player in the team who was sitting next to me excitedly poked me imploring me to look out the window. I have been lucky enough to travel a little bit and seen many cityscapes from the air at night, but this 13 year old kid had never been to a city before or even on a plane. After getting my attention he started tapping on the window and looking out at Auckland lit up at night, he then said "Auckland is faka ofa ofa" (Auckland is beautiful). I have never heard such sincere amazement and excitement in a kid's voice and now realise that this trip is about much more than football (although it would be nice to win a game or two). It is about taking 18 kids who have never left an island of 60,000 people before to see a another part of the world and open their eyes to a way of life off their beautiful, sleepy island.

Oh my... God

It has been an awesome Christmas and New Year's here in Tonga. I've had Tommy O'Hara, who perfected the art of doing nothing during his three weeks here, Dave Michael, who went through a truck-load of SPF +30 and Stevie Trik who could not keep still for longer than 10 minutes here in Tonga. During the time the boys were here we pretty much ate, drank, went for a daily swim and managed to fit in a couple of trips to Sunday Club Island.

Tommy

Dave

Stelio in the middle

We had a great Christmas Day as myself, Tom, David and my housemate Tomasi had a Bachelor's Christmas. Waking up at 11am after a few too many beers the night before we (except Tom of course) started preparing an afternoon feast consisting of tuna sashimi, pan fried tuna, roast vegetables, octopus, salad, wine, beers, rum, loads of chips and lollies and of course the PIG. At about 2pm we sat down on the balcony of 'The Palace', complete with an ocean view, and pretty much sat there drinking beers and eating food for the rest of the day, was a good way to spend my Tongan Christmas!

The pig being devoured

Christmas Drinks

I really appreciated the boys coming over here, it is easily the most expensive time of year to fly from Australia to Tonga and it was great to spend some time with three good mates from home. Hopefully one day I'll be in the position to visit them when they are living and working overseas.

The Pig

Now that the boys have gone I have started focusing all my efforts into getting the Tongan Under 17 team ready for their World Cup Qualifiers next week, which are supposed to start with a game against Tahiti on Sunday, 9th January.

I say supposed to be starting on the 9th as the Executive Committee of the Tongan Football Association have only just realised that the 9th, is a Sunday and they want us to forfeit the game against Tahiti. Sunday is a holy day here in Tonga, it is illegal for anyone to exercise, for shops to be open or to do anything at all really except to eat, sleep and go to church. There has also, apparently, been a precedent set as no Tongan national team has ever played on a Sunday. I think that is a load of rubbish and the Executive Committee are just making up excuses so people can't accuse them of being impious by allowing a bunch of teenagers to play a game of football on a Sunday.


While I can understand their stance if the game was supposed to be played here in Tonga, it's not. So it's not a legal issue, it's a 'moral' issue. It's an easy decision for a bunch of old Tongans to sit in a room and decide a team shouldn't play but the boys want to play, the other coaches (who are all Tongan) want them to play and all of the staff here (except one) want them to play.

The reality is, we will more than likely get slaughtered by Tahiti who have had over 12 months to prepare and have been playing in their national second division for a year. We've had five weeks and four friendly games against teams of varying skill and Tahiti will probably vie with New Zealand for the OFC's spot at the 2011 Under 17 World Cup. But it's not about winning, it's about the boys who have worked hard over the past five to six weeks being denied a chance to play in a FIFA World Cup Qualifying competition by a bunch of old men who think they know better. It is also about common sense, which is in short supply here in Tonga. What is the point of paying all the money to send a team to NZ and then just forfeiting the first game?


I met with a few members from the Committee today and tried to explain this to them. In as many words they said "we have no chance of winning anyway and it will be good for the boys to play the other three games regardless". It was not really the response I was looking for so I decided to try a different tact, I explained to them that if 'God' really is all powerful and has a hand in everything here on Earth then he must have had a hand in selecting all 18 boys in the squad, to which they agreed. I then said that 'God' must have played a hand in scheduling the match against Tahiti on Sunday so 'God' must have a good reason for wanting the boys to play that game on a Sunday.

Clutching at straws I know but they listened and will let me know of their decision at Midday tomorrow.