Fiji! Fiji! Fiji!

You all heard. You all know ...

FIJI WON HK7s for 2009.

The Cup!
It's OURS!!!

Vinaka Vaka Levu,

Our Heroes!!!

And can you believe it? There wasn't a single Fiji Rugby Star in the line-up. Coach Iliesa Tanivula thought he could win it without a single big name or sports star, and so put together a team of "just your ordinary everyday local players". Fiji thought he was mad and wrote this team off as a bad joke.

But ...

Vinaka Iliesa! Vinaka!

And what a game! Fiji vs South Africa! What a mighty fine game. Nerve-wracking! Right from the start, when everyone sang along with our national anthem:

"For Fiji. Ever Fiji,
May Our Voices ring with Pride."

... it was a massive emotional rollercoaster; all leaning over the railing, screaming, stomping, cheering, booing, and heart-pounding, nail-biting, and Tracey whispering "Fiji needs this. Fiji needs this so bad." and the Boks tried and we tried again and again and time was getting away and Fiji was only seven points ahead until ...

... the siren honked "Full Time" and South Africa had possession of the ball, and you just couldn't breathe because they looked like they were going to make it, and all down the field things got so fierce there, with everyone giving their all, until right into the South Africa zone and then they tried and got five points, and if they converted, it would be a tie and it'd have to go into sudden-death and that's more than we could bear ...

Not able to breathe.

but then ... was it that Bok called Innocent? ... kicked and missed!!

Game over!

And calls immediately went out to home to share the celebration ...

... while in HK Stadium, we all screamed and danced around with flags ...

... and stomped and cheered and thumped the chairs shouting "Go, Fiji. Go Fiji. Go Fiji." ...

... until Freddy Mercury started to sing "We are the Champions, My Friends. We keep on fighting til the end ..." over the loud speakers ...

... so we all sang along at the top of our lungs.


Till the Marching Band took the field ...


... and then opera singers sang as Donald Tsang awarded us the cup, and ...

Fireworks exploded over Hong Kong

... and they were all ...

"For Fiji, Ever Fiji
May Our Voices Ring with Pride
For Fiji, Ever Fiji,
Her name hailed far and wide!"

And our boys were descended on by everyone allowed onto the field, and for half an hour everyone wanted a piece of Fiji as our heroes sunk into the Media Scrum!

And while it was all happening on the field, Fiji coach Iliesa Tanivula snuck away to personally thank all of us for our support.

And then everyone wanted a piece of him.

So that's what happened at the stadium after the win. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

All I should add is Vinaka Vaka Levu, mai kai loma! This is a beautiful, beautiful thing you've done this day! The Fiji flag stands alone and proud thanks to you wonderful guys!

Our Flag!

All photos available for free download at http://picasaweb.google.com/denisellmurphy1/FijiansAtTheHK7s2009?feat=directlink