Samoan tweeter slams racists in NZ rugby

DUNCAN JOHNSTONE
Last updated 09:32 12/04/2012
HAMISH COLEMAN-ROSS

Condemnation from rugby players across the world for racist remarks aimed at Pat Lam have also seen a swell in support for the Blues coach.

Eliota Fuimaono Sapolu plays for Samoa at the Rugby World Cup.
Getty Images
SERIAL TWEETER: Eliota Fuimaono Sapolu plays for Samoa at the Rugby World Cup.

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Samoan serial tweeter Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu has slammed the racist rants directed at Blues coach Pat Lam in the wake of the team's poor performances.

Fuimaono-Sapolu, who raised a storm with his tweeting during last year's World Cup in New Zealand,  voiced his opinion in his usual controversial manner.

The full tweet read: "F**k NZ Rugby. We polynesians have made the All Blacks the best in the world for decades! F**k it now! Represent your Island countries!"

It was delivered overnight as the story made headlines in Britain after Lam voiced his sadness at the slant taken against him.

Lam twice broke down in front of a large media session in Auckland yesterday when he described the pain the racist remarks on social media and talkback radio had brought to his family, particularly his parents. Lam played for Samoa and the All Blacks before embarking on his coaching career.

Fuimaono-Sapolu had earlier tweeted: "Not a fan of Pat Lam but reading racist taunts he & polynesian players receiving from NZ is not only f**king disgusting, its not surprising!"

He later clarified his stance by saying: "I should have worded it better. I meant the racists in NZ. Not NZ as a whole."

The Guardian newspaper this morning suggested Fuimaono-Sapolu might escape censure from the International Rugby Board over this rant despite conditions hanging over him from his World Cup Twitter indiscretions and subsequent tirades on his return to the English scene where he plays for Gloucester.

The conditions of his IRB ban require him to refrain from criticising a match official, the IRB or the disciplinary process on Twitter.

He was given a six month ban, suspended for two years, following criticism of the referee Nigel Owens and the IRB via Twitter during the World Cup. He accused Owens of bias and racism and compared the Samoan playing schedule to slavery, apartheid and the Holocaust.

In November that ban was increased when England's national union handed Fuimaono-Sapolu a three-week suspension for comments he made about Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell.

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