Vodafone Fiji Bati player Eloni Vunakece could be our own Mr Perpetual Motion. As we count down to the Rugby League World Cup, Vunakece will share his personal journey and that of the team through this column on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This is Vunakece’s journey.
How I came to be in this situation is a long-winded tale. My father hails from Tavualevu in Tavua and left Fiji in his late 20s to play rugby league for the Grafton Ghosts in Australia. My father did not play much professional football, but the war stories will tell you he was a feared opponent, never backing down from a battle.
Ratu Meli Vunakece was a hard hitting prop/wing with Usain Bolt-like speed (who would still play today if it wasn’t for chronic arthritis and inflammation in his knees – most likely from the mountains of sugar he consumed in his tea — I enjoy looking after my health) who perfected his athletic ability playing marbles as a kid while taking on the fatherly duties as my grandfather passed away suddenly while at work one day. With no other option than to just make things work, he worked away at providing whatever he could for his direct family, his siblings and mum, my grandma in the hardest work I know in working in the sugarcane fields. It was tough but he didn’t let that slow him down. He worked various other jobs and met my mum while working on Beachcomber Island. A little Aussie sheila from St Arnaud in Victoria Australia. I have a sneaking suspicion I was already in existence in some form before they were married in my mums hometown.
They worked hard to provide for me and my brothers and sisters. It was never forced upon me to work hard but I think I absorbed it through osmosis, just through seeing how my folks provided for us. My dad provided for seven children (Mere, Anare, me, Eloise, Isaac, Makelesi and Ratu) the best way he can. Never complains just goes out and gets it done.
My parents divorced when I was eight and we moved away with mum. After this happened,I grew as an Australian kid losing a lot of ties to Fiji. I didn’t really know how to pronounce my own name properly until I was about 14 and better understood how the Fijian language works. Language and cultural teachings were lost to me as I was rarely around them.
Moving to France and learning that language made me realise again that I had lost ways in my own heritage and gave me that hunger and passion to learn as much as I could about Fijian culture and history.
If you see me reading a plaque or some piece of local history I am creating the image in my mind of what our ancestors went through. I love history and I had to move away to discover that. I want to learn everything I can about Fiji and Pacific culture.
We have always been close and my dad always tells me to enjoy footy which has probably been why I pursued my goal of playing in the NRL for so long. I was just enjoying testing myself and having fun. Footy was too serious at times for me and he would make me look at why I started playing the game again — for fun.
Here I am now in preparation for another world cup thanks largely in part to my father’s and my heritage but mostly because of the work principles and practices I took from him.
