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Dolphins enforcer Felise Kaufusi has told The Roar that Australian Rugby League Commission chair Peter V’Landys was “absolutely disrespectful” for comments that Kaufusi believes accused the Rugby League Players Association of racism towards Pasifika players.
V’landys was reported by Sydney Morning Herald to have made the claims at meetings with the RLPA in reference to aspects of the CBA that pertained to payments for international matches.
“Let’s be upfront here,” wrote V’Landys in an email republished by the SMH. “The difference of opinion is that the RLPA wishes to take monies away from the players and use it to provide approx 83% increase in the funding of the union itself.
Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“Not wishing to pay the Pacific Islander players when they represent their country, which in itself improves the international game, so it can be used to fund RLPA staff not only prejudices at least 48% of your membership, but is incomprehensible.
“I for one will never agree to this and will ensure that the monies go to the rightful people, the players.”
The accusations caused uproar in the RLPA, which represents players of Pacific heritage, provoking Tonga, Australia and Queensland veteran Kaufusi to tee off on the ARLC boss.
“Absolutely disrespectful,” Kaufusi told The Roar of the chairman’s comments.
“I’m blindsided to be honest at the angle that he’s used. He’s trying to carry on saying that the RLPA is racist, which is us, it’s me, it’s other Pacific Islanders within the group. The RLPA is on our behalf.
“I take it as a personal attack, to be honest. Him thinking that we’re racist could be nothing further from the truth.
“He accuses us of being racist – and I say us, including myself, on behalf of all Pacific Islanders in the NRL and RLPA.
“For him to come out with something so outlandish – it’s easy for someone to read the headline and say ‘Oh my god, these guys are racist’, but you just need to look deeper to see why we’ve refused that proposal.”
The composition of the RLPA is around 50% Pacific heritage, in line with the wider playing group, whereas the NRL has no Pacific voices at the upper echelons of decision-making.
Sia Soliola. (Photo by Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)
Sia Soliola, a veteran of over 300 games across the NRL and Super League, and one of the most respected Pasifika voices in rugby league, also spoke of his confusion at the V’landys comments – and of his role in setting up forums for Pacific people within the RLPA.
“From my own experiences, being in those conversations, being an RLPA delegate and moving on to be a board member, I didn’t see any racism towards Pacific players. I’ve not experienced that,” he said.
“I can’t connect the words to the point he’s trying to make. From my previous experiences being a player in the game, there’s always been questions around who is speaking on behalf of the Pacific players.
“When I retired, the RLPA leadership were adamant that they wanted some more Pasifika representation and were trying to get more Pasifika players involved, because they understood that it was – excuse the pun – a foreign area that they wanted to experience, learn and understand a little bit more.
“They knew the impact that having Pacific players within the conversations would benefit the not only the playing group but the Pacific nations as a whole.
“From that, we’ve been able to create a Pacific Advisory Group. I sat in the first one and it was about trying to get players in NRLW and NRL to have a voice, to encourage that.”
At the centre of the dispute around international payments has been discussions over who pays players for their participation.
The NRL has never disclosed the breakdown of payments within the broadcast deal regarding international football, but is thought to have included the rights to Australia and New Zealand games as part of it, leaving any additional games involving Pacific nations, who have reinvigorated the international scene since 2017, as a seperate question.
Tonga have already gone their own way and organised a post-season tour of England – on the same terms and conditions that the Kangaroos or Kiwis would expect – but Samoa are yet to announce any fixtures.
It is understood by The Roar that any series involving a third party against Australia or New Zealand would be included under the current broadcast deal, with payments for that team – whether Samoa, Fiji, PNG or anyone else – not covered by broadcasters.
Broadcasters are yet to receive any domestic content from the Kangaroos as part of their deal, as they have not played on home soil since 2019, a fact that confused Kaufusi further, given the lengths that Tonga have gone to in order to get on the field, and subsequent accusations from V’landys towards Pacific players.
“It’s rich from him,” said the decorated Test forward. “We came from humble beginnings to get to what we’ve sorted out for the end of the year – it’s the first time a Tonga team has travelled overseas for a tour off their own back. It’s off their own back, there’s no help. It’s us doing our best.
“He is trying to dictate where money is going or what tournaments are run. I can’t see eye to eye with him or where he’s coming from. It bemuses me.
“He was talking about equal pay for internationals – we’re all for equal pay. If you peel the onion back, you see why we didn’t take the proposal up. Where’s that money coming from to pay all the nations?
(Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
“Not just that, but are the nations even at the table to talk about the money that is raised, the government grants and where that might trickle down to the section that I’m more passionate about, which is the pathways for other Tongans and Pacific Islanders coming through.
“It’s not just Australia and New Zealand that you can play for, and it’s been awesome to see how it’s grown over the last few years. I’d love to see any revenue above forecast trickle down into something like that.
“If they’re so invested in growing the game internationally, I’d love to see what that looks like. Not the kickbacks that the islands would get, but what pathways and scheduling we could do so that kids like myself growing up – even though I always wanted to play for Australia – could also represent their mum and dad and their heritage and be looked after.”
Kaufusi also hit back at claims that the bulk of players did not understand what the dispute was about, with the ongoing media boycott set to enter a third week.
The Dolphins enforcer said it was the job of senior pros such as himself to be on top of the issues, and to educate the younger cohort on why the CBA mattered.
“There’s information being passed on from the top right down to the bottom so there’s transparency on what we’re trying to do,” he said.
“I get that the younger guys maybe couldn’t care less, but in the next years to come, when they get their contracts, they’re the ones that will benefit the most. They’ll look back and be glad that these players stepped up and held the line for us.
“The next gen are going to benefit and be seen as equally and fairly as possible. We (older players) have seen it all, we’ve experienced it all and what know what could help if you’re 18 and coming out of school – what does the minimum wage look like, what’s it like moving into the city and moving out of home?
“When you’re young, you’re a bit naive and go with the flow, but when you get older you’re looking back. That’s what I want to be for this generation coming through – for them to realise how much we fought and are fighting.”
Felise Kaufusi. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Soliola retired in 2021 but has a relative, Sky Blues under-19s rep Monalisa Soliola, at the very beginning of her NRLW career with the Canberra Raiders.
He said that the RLPA were learning more and more about where they stood in the game, and that the likes of Clint Newton were doing the right thing by the players.
“We hear conversations and it ignites us to keep asking questions,” he said. “We’re going through the experiences of knowing how things operate. It’s why it’s important that we have guys like Newto and the board that can be a voice for us.
“We lean on them to provide things in context about the organisation so that everything is transparent. From us, that’s all we want.
“During the Covid period, it highlighted a lot of this. We had a few changes and were forced into those meetings to understand how the NRL operates.
“As players, we had just been focusing on winning the next game, but during that period we understood all about these different funds and how the NRL manage the game.
“It really flicked the switch in the playing group to keep asking questions. The more we asked, the more we got to understand what we were entitled to as players and important stakeholders in the game.”