By IAN HOWE
OLSEN FILIPAINA (23 April 1957 – 10 February 2022)
Olsen Orekewa Filipaina, who has died at the age of 64, was an outstanding Rugby League player and a Polynesian trailblazer who represented both New Zealand and Western Samoa on the international stage, while playing for the Balmain Tigers, Eastern Suburbs, and North Sydney Bears during his New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) Premiership career from 1980 to 1987.
Born in Kaikohe, New Zealand, Filipaina’s mother was Māori and his father was from Samoa. Raised in the Auckland suburb of Māngere, he started his Rugby League career with the Mangere East Hawks in the Auckland Rugby League competition.
While playing for the Hawks, Filipaina was named the best back in the competition in 1977, before winning the Rothville Trophy as player of the year the following season.
An Auckland representative, Filipaina was part of the Auckland side that defeated Great Britain, Australia and France within the span of 20 days in 1977.
He was first picked for New Zealand in the same year, becoming the first junior player from the Hawks to be selected for the Kiwis.
He moved to Sydney in 1980, joining the Balmain Tigers, spending five seasons at the club, playing in 82 games and amassing 225 points.
In those days he used to give his pay cheque to his father, Alan, a former heavyweight boxer, who would give him an allowance to live on.
“I was just a kid from Mangere who loved playing footy, what do I know about contracts or any of that,” Filipaina said in 2020.
“I had never had anything so when I started to make good money, I didn’t really know what to do with it.
“In our culture you want to give back, I certainly did. You want to give back to the ones who sacrificed so you could be in a position to make money. But there has to be a limit that benefits all parties.”
After a one-year spell at the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in 1985, he played for two years with the North Sydney Bears.
During his time in the NSWRL Premiership, Filipaina suffered from racial abuse and sledging. His biography, ‘The Big O: The Life and Times of Olsen Filipaina’, was published in April 2020 and recounted the racial abuse he endured throughout his career. But he rarely retaliated.
“If I had punched someone and got sent off, people don’t care why,” Filipaina said.
“It would shame my parents and family name and, as one of the first Polynesians, I didn’t want to give us a troublemaker stereotype.
“If you called me ‘n****’ or ‘black b*****’, I would take your number and if I don’t get you this game, I’ll wait the whole season and I’ll get you in the end. Call me whatever you want, but I would tell them, ‘I’m not going away’.”
“I knew how to handle myself from growing up in Mangere East, but I really didn’t want the headlines or to get a reputation as a brawler. It’s hard to explain, but I couldn’t let my mum down.”
In 1983 and again in 1985 he was picked for the Kiwis despite playing in the Sydney reserve grade competition. On both occasions he played a pivotal role in the Kiwis defeating Australia and he was named the man of the series in 1985 playing opposite the great Australian Immortal Wally Lewis. He also made six appearances at the 1977 and 1985–1986 editions of the Rugby League World Cup.
In total, Filipaina played in 50 matches for New Zealand, including 28 Tests, scoring 108 points.
He eventually retired from the Kiwis in 1987 and would later captain Ryde-Eastwood to victory in the inaugural Metropolitan Cup final in 1990.
He subsequently changed his national representation to Western Samoa, his father’s country of origin. He captained the team in the 1988 Pacific Cup as well as in its inaugural Test match that same year.
Filipaina remained in Australia after his retirement, living in the north Sydney suburb of Ryde.
Having been employed during his career as a dustman, where he earned the nickname “The Galloping Garbo”, he worked the same garbage run after his playing career ended.
Filipaina was named one of New Zealand Rugby League’s ‘Legends of League’ in 2007.
In mid-January 2022 he was admitted to Westmead Hospital with a stomach infection. His condition slowly deteriorated and he died of kidney failure on 10 February 2022, 72 days short of his 65th birthday.
Olsen Filipaina leaves his wife Leslie, five children – Louise, John, Alysha, Quin and Jazmine, and four grandchildren – Tamati, Matahi, Ignatius and Kaimana.
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