Tropic Athleticism

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 450, 4 September 1928, Page 8

Tropic Athleticism

Kava and Paw-Paw for Collegians CONFIRMED eaters of tlie delectable paw-paw, Initiates in the art of kava drinking, and fit after football in the steaming heat of the tropics, the Auckland University footballers have returned from Fiji. They left the “ashes” in Suva, the Islanders winning two of the test matches out of three, and the general opinion is that the game in Fiji has improved fifty per cent, since the last visit of the collegians.

TyTOST of them declare that it was the best fortnight’s holiday they have ever bad, the residents giving them a wonderful time. The matches were played in damp heat, which was much worse than an Auckland summer, and the last quarter always found the Aucklanders gasping. Once or twice rain had fallen on the morning of the match, and when the whistle blew —matches began at four o'clock —steam was rising in clouds from the turf. “Going into the scrums was like entering a furnace,” said a forward. The fields were marvellously level, like bowling greens. The Fijian

teams were fast, and lack of striking wings cost Auckland the matches. As a matter of fact, in the final test there was no score until the last 10 minutes, but after that the Islanders put on eight points. Only four of Varsity’s senior team made the trip. “VITI-VITI!” About 3,000 people would attend the games—whites, natives, and Hindus. The Fijians were immensely delighted with the visitors’ haka. In the excitement of the match the natives would raise their chant of “VITI-viti, VITI-vitl! ” which, being interpreted, means “C’mon, Fiji.” Between matches the team was entertained with dances, big ones, at the Grand Pacific Hotel, where the Hindu waiters dress like rajahs, and turtles for the soup are kept in pens in the back yard; and small ones, at private residences. There was an official dinner In the town hall, and more than 100 guests dined there. There were plenty of picnics, and the team swam in the lagoon at Nuku-

lau and in the Lami River. It was at the school at Sawani that the visitors were initiated into the ceremony of kava or yangona drinking. With a solemn chanting, the root of the yangona tree was pounded in the bowl with water. When the milky liquid was made, one of the schoolboys dipped the cup—half a coconut shell—into the large bowl, and on his knees proffered it to the big chief of the visitors, the manager of the team. The cup must be emptied at a draught, and tossed back to the cupbearer, who claps his hands before and after the drink. KAVA-DRINKING All the other players were served in similar manner. One of them said the drink was like and that it left a slightly bitter taste in the mouth afterwards. Another thought that it was like soapy water. Yangona is looked upon as something of a tonic in Suva, and a bowl is kept in the offices of Government departments. Though it is an unfermented liquor, if drunk in sufficiently large quantities it is said to have a curious effect on the legs, while the head is left perfectly clear. Paw-paws, which are eaten like the American grapefruit, were relished both as an overture to breakfast and as dessert, and all the visitors are confirmed eaters of this succulent fruit. Football is followed and played with great enthusiasm by the Fijians and by the white residents, but a pronounced colour line is drawn. Five or six white teams play in the senior competition, and three or four in the junior, including the high school team. The natives have eight senior teams, and they play their own competitions in bare feet, potting goals with the ease of Bennie Osiers. Just before the collegians arrived, the Fiji team left for its annual game with the Tongans. One New Zealand schoolmaster in Fiji, who is a Rugby enthusiast, says he is compelled to make his boys play Soccer, because in the excitement of Rugby the game becomes a battle royal. OLD KING'S BOYS Most of the men who played against the Varsity team have learnt their football at school in Auckland or Sydney, and there were three or four old King’s College boys in the test team. Strangely enough, no great quantities of fruit were seen in Suva, and the oranges given to the team were Californian ones. The games were excellent examples of sportsmanship, and there were no “incidents.” There were two casualties to the visitors, a broken finger and a sprained ankle in four matches —not a bad record for a touring team. The native dress was at first a novelty. A sergeant of police came aboard the Tofua with a perfectly fitting blue tunic, and the top half of him according to New Zealand style, but the lower half was clad in the sula,* or towel-like draping, and his legs and feet were bare. The ruling chief was Bond Street from head to waist, and Fiji for the rest of him.