From Empty Cupboards to Full Hearts: Tonga's Remarkable Netball Journey to Glasgow
When Salote Sisifa became CEO of Tonga Netball in 2014, she inherited nothing: no team, no coach, no facilities. Twelve years later, Tonga is ranked 8th in the world and set to make its Commonwealth Games debut.
Salote Sisifa, a former TV news anchor, took over as CEO of Tonga Netball in 2014 to find a completely blank slate. There was no team, no coach, no training facilities. She told the national governing body she would resign if she didn't deliver dramatic changes within five years.
Her first move was to enter Tonga in the 2015 Pacific Games, where the team suffered heavy losses: 88-21 to Samoa and 81-27 to Papua New Guinea. But Sisifa persevered.
In 2019, New Zealand-born Jaqua Pori-Makea-Simpson was appointed head coach. At their first meeting, Sisifa outlined an ambitious goal: to break into the world's top 10 by 2025. Pori-Makea-Simpson thought she was crazy.
The team began recruiting players of Tongan heritage, even if they had never visited the islands. When promising shooter Uneeq Palavi initially declined, Sisifa enlisted her Tongan grandmother to persuade her – successfully.
2022 brought a series of disasters: a volcanic eruption, tsunami, and a Covid-19 lockdown. The underwater Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Haʻapai eruption was the largest atmospheric explosion ever recorded – hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Four people died.
Coach Pori-Makea-Simpson, who was abroad, lost all support from the federation. With no team, uniforms or equipment, she scoured social media for eligible players. Most met for the first time at Sydney Airport five days before a competition. Despite this, Tonga won gold.
Now Tonga is ranked eighth in the world, just behind Wales and ahead of Scotland and Northern Ireland. On Saturday in Glasgow, they will make their Commonwealth Games debut against Australia, the world's top team.
The coach believes the team's strength comes from an innate spirituality that bonds them. Regardless of the scoreboard, the Tongan people are proud not because the team wins, but because they are Tongan.
