07-08-2023 Breakfast Bites FIJI & PACIFIC SPORTS NEWS Podcast S06E37 #TeivovoSports #TeivovoDigital

Bula, Ma’lelei, Talofa and Welcome to Season 06 Episode 37 of Breakfast Bites by TeivovoSports.com – a wrap of Pasifika people’s sports news on a bright and sunny Monday morning 07 August 2023.Coming to you with tons of hanisi from the 180th meridian in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Australian Diamonds have won the Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa after they thrashed England 45-61 for the gold medal and the Sunshine Girls of Jamaica beat up the New Zealand Tall Ferns 45-52 for bronze.The “USA, USA” chant will never be heard again at the FIFA World Cup after they were dumped out of the Round of 16 by Sweden, thanks to a stunning performance by Swedish goalkeeper, Zećira Mušović, who made a tournament-high 11 saves for a nil all draw, before the penalty shootout last night.It is the United States’ first defeat at a World Cup since the 2011 final, and the first time they have ever failed to make at least the semi-finals.World number three Sweden will now face Japan in the quarter finals.In the other Round of 16 game yesterday: the Netherlands 2-0 South Africa in Sydney.Today England vs Nigeria at 5:30pm in Brisbane and Australia vs Denmark at 8:30pm in Sydney. Tomorrow sees Colombia vs Jamaica at 6pm in Melbourne and France vs Morocco at 7pm in Adelaide.In Rugby: Samoa is first cab off the rank in officially naming their Rugby World Cup 2023 squad of 33 players with the All Blacks naming scheduled for 5pm New Zealand time today.So when will the Wallabies, Ikale Tahi, Springboks, Los Pumas and the Flying Fijians squads be named?In background buzz at the end of this podcas,t I dive into the unprecedented three World Cups – netball just finished, rugby union next month and FIFA Football World Cup for women ongoing.In rugby league: Despite the Saint George Dragons Fijian Bati Wing, Mikaele Ravalawa scoring four tries - his fourth giving the Dragons a 20-10 lead in the 58th minute, Sean Russell crossed to close the gap to six for the Eels, who regained the ascendency at CommBank Stadium, and finished all over the top of the Dragons 20-26 after tries to Junior Paulo and Bryce Cartwright to save their season and Brad Arthur’s job.And in Sports Biz: Michael Jordan’s majority ownership of the Charlotte Hornets, which he acquired in 2010 for US$275Million has ended, and with it, the NBA’s only franchise with Black-majority ownership.And you can’t blame him for that - the sale represents an overall profit of US$2.725Billion for MJ.In combat Sports: Iron Mike Tyson is in Francis Ngannou’s corner for his upcoming fight against Tyson Fury, saying in a media release: “It is no secret I back Ngannou 100 per cent in this face-off of champions. He has one hard punch, and when it lands, it’s game over.It remains unclear if Tyson will be in Ngannou’s training camp ahead of his fight against Tyson Fury, or if he is simply helping to promote the fight.What is clear, is that Iron Mike must be raking in big cash paid out by the promoter for this statement, and more likely even more dosh for him just to turn up for the fight.OK in background buzz today - the Australian Diamonds have just won the Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa where they thumped England, while the Sunshine Girls of Jamaica beat up the New Zealand Tall Ferns for bronze.Apart from these top four teams, the rest are minnows and will forever remain so, always fighting for scraps on the floor of the world netball empire – because structurally, world netball, like rugby union, and rugby league, in stuck in their colonial past with Australia only interested in playing “Tests” against England and New Zealand whether it be netball, rugby league or cricket.By sheer force of talent, the Sunshine girls, like their sisters – the Reggae Girls of Jamaica in football, and the Tongan, Samoan and Fijian national rugby league and rugby union teams, have all forced their way onto the world stage of these respective sports. This, despite their obvious disadvantages, mainly due to their small populations and economies, lending to an acute lack of resources – especially financial.It’s no surprise that the Sunshine Girls turned to social media, starting a “go fund me” page just to make it to this FIFA World Cup.The national bodies running rugby union and rugby league in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, boast a rich history of poor governance and a lack of funds, best summed up by ex-All Black and Fiji Head Coach at the Rugby World Cup 1999 in France, Brad Johnstone who said - that just being there in France was bankrupting Fiji rugby.This financial bridge too far, for netball and especially rugby, is contrasted by FIFA’s approach; with the sheer diversity of all the participating teams in this FIFA World Cup 2023 for women, includes teams from all over the world – first and third world – rich and poor.As a result, so many minor, lesser known women’s national football teams, made it through the group games to the Round of 16, where the Netherlands beat South Africa, and with games still to be played between England and Nigeria, Australia against Denmark, Colombia versus Jamaica and France taking on Morocco.Even the richest team in the world, whose players are paid the same as their male counterparts – the USA Women’s National Team, are on their way home, dumped out of this World Cup by Sweden, who will now play Japan in the quarter finals.Global football powerhouses – Germany, Italy and Argentina have already been eliminated.One of the main reasons that this has happened – big teams eliminated by small teams, is that money is leveling the playing field – consider FIFA guaranteed every player in every team at this World Cup US$30,000 each, moving up to US$60,000 for the Round of 16 and more all the way to the finals, where the players in the winning squad each earn US$270,000.Contrast this with the Rugby World Cup 2023 where there is still no prize money, but the top teams who control World Rugby, are very well looked after by er World Rugby.Tier One nations got ten million dollars each in preparation grant last time, while the rest of the teams from Tier Two, got a couple of million each at best, to assist with their RWC preparations.I am not so sure about how World Netball divvies up all their cookies, but I’m sure if the minnows like Tonga, Fiji, Singapore, Uganda, Trinidad, Malawi and Sri Lanka got more. they would be more competitive and globally netball would be a much bigger game.Granted football has many more fans and it is played in many more countries, but to me it’s all about inclusiveness and level playing fields, and sorry to say but rugby union and rugby league, plus netball to a lessor extent, fall far short of pretty simple, decent standards.And that’s a wrap!For TeivovoSports.com I’m Culden Kamea – please hit the like and subscribe buttons below if you want to receive more Pasifika sports highlights on Breakfast Bites.Mahalo, Kakite and tank you all too mas for all your love and support.#TEIVOVORugby #TEIVOVODigital #TeivovoRugby #TeivovoDigital #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #Raka #team #rugbytraining #sports #FRU #Fiji #womensrugby #rugbygirls #wrugby #ladiesrugby #womeninsport #woman #rugby #rugby7s #FijiRugby #rugbyunion #rugbyleague #fitness #weightlifting #training #team #rugbytraining #sports #rakavi #DevelopmentFiji