Rugby players know how to draw a crowd.
They command attention on the field, inspire young fans and have a reach that extends well beyond the final whistle.
This is why Suliana Latianara, 23, wants to use that star power for something that cannot be solved with a try, a tackle or a trophy – Fiji’s growing litter problem.
And while presenting her project at the FMF Hibiscus Festival’s private judging this week, the Miss Fiji Rugby sponsored contestant had the numbers to show why people should pay attention – 685 pieces of litter, 588 were plastic, 14.4 kilograms of rubbish.
That was what a litter survey found on just a 50-metre by six-metre stretch of the USP foreshore at Laucala Campus in Suva on July 3.
For Latianara, the figures are not simply evidence of a dirty beach.
They are an opportunity to use the influence of rugby and young people to start changing behaviour.
If given $5000, her proposed project, Blue Mind, Bright Future, brings together ocean conservation, youth empowerment, mental wellbeing and rugby.
“What if the same young people who come together on a rugby field could come together to protect the ocean?” she asked.
It is a question that captures what Suliana hopes to do with her platform as a contestant.
Rather than treating environmental protection as a lecture delivered to young people, she wants to take the message into an environment they already understand – sport.
“Rugby is my engagement tool.”
The concept is simple. Young volunteers would take part in organised foreshore clean-ups, but they would also count and categorise what they collect.
The objective is to make the problem visible.
A discarded plastic bottle or food wrapper does not necessarily stay where it is thrown. Rain and wind can carry rubbish into drains and waterways, eventually delivering it to the coast and ocean.
Suliana wants young people to understand that connection – and their role in breaking it.
Her proposed “Rugby for Blue” activities would combine rugby skills, team challenges and environmental education.
“Participants would learn about marine litter while putting teamwork, communication and leadership into practice.”
There is another layer to her project.
Suliana also wants to create space for youth wellbeing through reflection, group discussions and positive activities that connect young people with their environment and community.
Her longer-term ambition is to establish a Blue Youth Team that could continue beyond the initial project, organising clean-ups, monitoring litter, visiting schools and promoting responsible waste disposal.
She knows rugby’s star power alone cannot clean Fiji’s coastline.
But it can get people listening.
And that, she believes, is where change can begin.
One team. One ocean. One future.
