Island Ball: Pacific Islands A Hotbed For NFL: Fact Or Fiction

“It’s in our blood.”

This is how Ink Aleaga, an ex-NFL football player and University of Washington Husky explain the success of Polynesian football players.

According to a recent report on the CBS television show, “60 Minutes,” there are more than 30 Polynesian players in the NFL with more entering each year. In addition, there are more than 200 players of Samoan or Polynesian descent in major college football. So what makes young men from the Pacific Islands so prepared to play football? Is it genetics, or is the generalization a racist assumption?

Built to Play

College football recruiters and NFL scouts like the body-type, strength, and agility of Polynesian athletes.

Are Samoans bigger than other ethnic groups? “There is nothing to support that argument scientifically,” said Dr. Bob Frankle in an interview with the Seattle P-I. Frankle was a professor of anthropology at Kapi’olani Community College who has been studying Polynesian cultures for 25 years. “That’s just the public’s perception [based on] the football players they see. When you look at the populace as a whole, you don’t get that sense.” The same is likely to be true for other ethnic groups from the Pacific Islands.

While it may not be scientifically proven, former University of Arizona quarterback George Malauulu believes that many Polynesian youth have the build, frame, strength, and agility to play football. Malauulu, originally from America Samoa, credits the historical “need to use their body to survive” as the reason for the success. In America Samoa, many youth rely on their athleticism to perform chores, farm, fish, and hunt

Dance may be the reason for why such Polynesian football players are light on their feet.

 “A lot of the Polynesian athletes and non-athletes are coordinated because part of the culture is involved in music and dance.” Aleaga, originally from Hawaii, believes that Polynesian athletes excel in sports due to their upbringing. “Within our culture we are known to work hard because we have been taught that when we were young.”

A key attribute that is overlooked is the discipline and respect given by many Polynesian athletes. This is due to the close knit family bonds in Polynesian culture. “Most come from a spiritual background and linked to some church,” Malauulu added, “ There is a strong foundation. A kid comes into [a college football program] coachable, if he gets out of line — one phone call to the home, he will straighten up.”

Depictions of Polynesian Football Players as Racist

Although Polynesian players are known as warriors on the football field, there is concern that the descriptions take on racial overtones. 

“I find depictions of Polynesians as ‘naturally fit’ for football to be racist stereotypes that draw on a longer colonial history of misrepresentation not only of Polynesians but also of other indigenous and negatively racialized peoples,” replied Ty Kāwika Tengan  in a recent e-mail. Professor Tengan is a professor of ethnic studies and anthropology at the University of Hawaii. He published an essay in December 2009 which chronicled how sports marketing and recruiting changed the image of the University of Hawaii Football team to appear “warrior-like” going so far as to abandon its old nickname of “Rainbow Warriors” to a more savage “Warriors” look.

“Samoan male bodies have been ‘commodified,’” said Dr. Rochelle Fonoti, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Washington. She explains that Samoans (and Polynesian players) are made a commodity and the depiction of them as savage warriors is being capitalized on for profit. “It’s all good for football but oftentimes there is no career to fall back on.” Fonoti has three brothers that played in college including one brother who played for the NFL’s San Diego Chargers.

Although football is known on America Samoa as the way “off the rock,” Fonoti states that her parents never urged her brothers to play football. “My parents stressed football as a route to a collegiate education.” Fonoti added, “Football was not pushed upon [my brothers]; we were encouraged to play other sports.”

Helping Youth for the Next Generation

A future consisting of more Polynesian football players is “definitely possible” according to Malauulu. He expects the number of Polynesian players to “double, if not triple.” Aleaga believes that there is much more academic support to assist players with school and will help in bringing more Polynesians to play football. Aleaga cited the lack of academic support when he was a collegiate athlete. “[But the talent to play football] was always there since I was in college,” Aleaga said.

Malauulu, a former college quarterback from 1989–1992, established a foundation for the next generation of Polynesian players. The AIGA Foundation was founded in 1997 in Carson, Calif., with other former student athletes. “Aiga,” the Samoan word for extended family, is a faith-based non-profit dedicated to assisting student-athletes in their pursuit of competing at the next level. The group conducts workshops and camps to support Polynesian and now non-Polynesian student athletes.

Malauulu and his staff conduct football camps for high school players and track their progress in giving them a maximum opportunity to compete at the next level.  With a network of contacts, Malauulu states he can provide a means of helping high school football players get noticed by colleges with the hope of landing a scholarship to play football.

Malauulu maintains relationships with his native America Samoa to assist schools on the island. Through AIGA, he has forged a partnership with Bally’s Health Clubs and 24 Hour Fitness in donating nautilus machines and weight equipment to high schools on America Samoa. In response to the September 2009 tsunami in America Samoa, AIGA sent 20 ship containers to America Samoa full of supplies in support of the relief effort.

Aleaga, a former linebacker for the University of Washington from 1993–1996, has started the Taro Roots Foundation, a grassroots nonprofit, directed toward helping youth achieve in higher education. He conducts camps with 6th, 7th and 8th grade children geared to teaching them football skills as well as the importance of academics. His next camps will take place in Seattle in June and July of 2010.

Aleaga is entering his 9th year as an academic counselor at the University of Washington where he currently counsels 70 student athletes

This article was originally published in the Northwest Asian Weekly.

For more information on the Taro Roots Foundation visit www.tarorootsfoundation.com; For more information on the Aiga Foundation, visit www.aigafoundation.com or www.aigafoundation.blogspot.com.