Photo Credit OFC Media via Phototek
The Cook Islands have well and truly punched above their weight at the OFC U-16 Men’s Championship in Tahiti.
The Cooks, who have a resident population of fewer than 20,000 and are the smallest OFC Member Association, were in Group A alongside Fiji, Vanuatu and New Zealand.
The tournament experience has added to the motivation of the side’s 15-year-old captain Temata Rouru, to one day become a professional player.
To say Cook Islands have overachieved given their resources and player talent pool would be an understatement.
An injury time goal prevented the Cooks holding Fiji to a draw in their opening game before they stunned Vanuatu in their second match and emerged with credit in their final Group match against powerhouse New Zealand.
The Cooks will take on Samoa in the Playoff for 5th place on Thursday (Tahiti time).
“Playing New Zealand was tough, but we just went through the match and kept fighting, never backed down,” Rouru said.
Marshalling the heart of the Cook Islands defence, Rouru felt he learned so much, having players constantly bearing down on him.
“The players from New Zealand were coming at me, I had to deal with a lot of things, but it’s all right, you learn more from a match like that and it will make us work harder.”
Rouru’s story is an interesting one. He started playing football around the age of four at his club Matawera FC.
But coming from a rugby family he has grown up playing both codes.
“But last year I had to make a decision to pick which one and I stopped playing rugby to concentrate on my football,” Rouru said.
What was mum and dad’s reaction?
“They were ok with the decision I made. They were happy and they were proud of me and being the captain to lead out the boys.”
Rouru has played his football exclusively in the Cook Islands, but dreams of one day getting the chance to play offshore in a professional environment.
But what he most enjoys is the power of football to bring people together.
“I just love how people bond, and the way they play is inspiring for me. And me watching my favourite player, Cristiano Ronaldo, makes me want to play.”
He also sees football as a way to inspire social change, tackle the obesity problem many Pacific countries grapple with.
“As you can see in the Cook Islands, there’s a lot of that in our country, but I just want our people to get up and do something. I played two different sports, If I can inspire people to be active, because sport and exercise is really important.”
Religion also plays a huge role in Rouru’s life. A member of the Cook Islands Christian Church (CICC) where his grandfather is a pastor.
“Church is very important in our life; we have to put god before everything,” Rouru said.
However, with his desire to make a career out of football, Rouru acknowledges his Church life may have to take a back seat for a while.
“I actually think I want to start my career in football first, build up and develop my experience. Maybe when I’m 38 or something, I’ll come back to Cooks and want to be a pastor.
“I need to train harder, work harder, develop my skills and move on.”
Rouru is honest when he talks about his weaknesses, and it’s not a lack of speed, strength or anything technical.
“As all know, me, I’m an anger issue fella. Man, when someone touches my teammate, I get angry, that’s what I need to work on. Discipline is so important. I need that more and I need to just discipline myself.”
And leading a team that has experienced heartbreak and ecstasy over the past two weeks in Tahiti has helped Rouru with his emotions.
“We played Fiji, the loss, it really put us down. But our coach told us we need to keep our head up. We need to keep fighting. And yeah, when we played against Vanuatu, we got the result we wanted and were very happy and proud to take our country at that level.
“We just went back in the changing room and sang some songs, the Cook Islands songs and just enjoying the moment.”