It tis the time of year when all thoughts turn to Spring, picnics, water sports and of course, St. Patrick’s Day. But a team in the AzFL has a group of players that also come from a far away Island home. A place where their hearts yearn to be. The Dragons of Cave Creek have ten Samoan players. This weekend most of the world will be seeing green and marching in parades in funny outfits and drinking beverages the color of which would normally require a call to the health department.
There will be a nation celebrating life, family, freedom and opportunity. They will have food from home, the men will don their dancing wear as will the ladies. They will be at the Arizona Aloha Festival in downtown Phoenix. The event runs March 17-18 at the Heritage and Science Park at the ASU Downtown Center on 6th Street and Monroe. There is free parking, for a map visit the event online at www.azalohafest.org. The AzFL wanted extend our greetings, prayers and good wishes to these players and their families. May your lives be abundantly blessed and may you and yours enjoy long lives of peace and joy.
The Motto for American Samoa is “Samoa, Muamua Le Atua (Samoa, Let God Be First)” for the Independent state of Samoa it is Fa’avae i le Atua Samoa “Samoa is founded on God”. The flags above are on the left for the Independent State of Samoa and on the right for American Samoa. ASU and the UA football teams both have players from the area on their football teams. ASU had at last check 12 or more. One of the Dragons is former ASU player from the Jake Plummer era.
The Cave Creek Dragons are team that believes in working together, respect and honor. An idea that is strengthened by the presence of 10 Samoan players. These men love the game and work hard on every snap no matter the score. The Dragons Coach and owner Sean Enna is glad they are on his side. The players let nothing get under their skin.
Opponents giving them a bad time, hitting them low, the score, officials, nothing causes them to act the fool. They also have a dedicated fan base of wives and girlfriends. The Dragons went to play in Flagstaff earlier in the season. On a cold very windy day, the only fans brave enough to sit on the sideline bleacher, facing the wind, were their ladies and families.
Even with the wind blowing towards them, the players could hear them yelling and cheering. Coach Enna counts on this support. When things get tough on the field, nothing he could say to his players could ever be as on point and direct as what their own ladies say to them. Loudly, clearly, immediately. After one game in which things did not go well, a bunch of folks stopped suddenly when they say a group of very large players backing up as their ladies told them what they thought of their performance.
It is easy to see why these guys don’t make the same mistake twice. Sure, they might make a new one, but not the same one. Now don’t get the wrong idea about the player’s families. They are not disrespectful and no matter what the other team does, they only address their players.
This group of young men is tough and will do whatever is asked of them by their coaches. The list of players by AzFL experience: 2 years with Dragons;
Filipo Tanai,
Thomas Vito, Matt Vito, Tovia Vito,
Falaniko Setefano, Peter
Setefano, Popaia Teutupe, Noke
Faavesi..
We all know about St. Patrick’s Day and the green beer, corned beef hash champ and banger. We thought you would like to see what foods the Samoan’s will be enjoying at the Festival. Oh, lest we forget, if you are worried about getting pinched because you are not wearing any green this weekend. Take a look at the picture on this page and then decide, which might be worse, a pinch or visit from one of these guys. Viva La Polynesia!
Oka: Most cultures eat raw fish: smoked salmon, sushi, Bismark herring, rollmops etc. Oka is the way Samoans prepare and serve raw fish. It consists of small bits of fish that have been left to marinate in a mixture of lemon juice, coconut cream, salt and onions.
Lu’au/Palusami: Lu’au is probably the dish that Samoa is most famous for and once eaten will never be forgotten. It is made from the leaves of the taro plant and coconut cream, however onions now tend to be added to it. The coconut cream, onions and some taro are wrapped up in whole taro leaves and, ideally, cooked in an umu. When cooked the parcel of taro leaves is opened and the contents eaten. The taste is impossible to describe, but suffice it to say that this is truly a food fit for the Gods.
Pe’epe’e: A general purpose sauce made from coconut cream and onions and eaten with taro, breadfruit or anything you like.
Sea: This is a Samoan delicacy that is made from the innards of a sea slug. It is normally sold in coke bottles at the food market. (Beware the label Hencho en Samoa, cane sugar is not the issue) For the bold of heart and strong of constitution only.
Supoesi: Eaten for breakfast, this is a hot soup made from pawpaw and coconut cream. It’s is worth trying once because you might like it, but there are many Samoans around that won’t touch it.
Supasui: A Samoan variation on chop suey, consisting of chunks of beef marinated in soy sauce, ginger, garlic and onions, which is then simmered with vermicelli, water and more soy sauce.
Povi Masima: Salt beef is the same the world over. However in Samoa it is one of the most common ways of eating beef, and most families will from time to time have large barrels of the stuff lying around.
Fausi: Fausi is a dessert traditionally made from taro, but outside of the islands it is more commonly made from pumpkins. It is essentially baked pumpkin, served with a caramelized coconut cream sauce: sweet and sticky. If using taro, then finely grate it, but if using pumpkin cook it first until it is very soft, then drain it mash it and some plain flour to thicken it.
A Dragon player and I had a discussion about another delicacy. Apparently at a game recently, Coach Enna explained to
the Dragon clan that the creatures flying around the campus were not birds but bats. After they stopped laughing, they spread their arms to show Sean Enna how big the bats are back home. This was followed by more Samoan laughter, much more laughter, until Coach told them that our bats, well, they bite….. Silence and a quick exit to their cars followed that comment. The laughter this time was from coaches Sean Enna, Darrel Parker and Jimmy Butler as they held up their fingers inches apart as the boys left….
The pe’a, as bats are called in Samoan, have had a hard time recently. As well as being a source of food during famine and an earner of foreign currency - it is considered a delicacy in Guam and they are being hunted to dangerous lows.
