Tonga have risen from having no team, no coach and no training facilities to becoming the world’s eighth-ranked netball nation in 12 years. Their path from sporting obscurity to a debut Commonwealth Games match against Australia in Glasgow on Saturday has been shaped by determined leadership, player recruitment across thousands of miles and repeated national crises.
When Salote Sisifa became CEO of Tonga Netball in 2014, she inherited what she described as a blank canvas — or, as some would say, an empty cupboard. She has remained in charge after pledging to resign if she failed, while coach Jaqua Pori-Makea-Simpson has helped guide the team’s rise.
Tonga is made up of more than 170 islands in the South Pacific and lies about 2,600 miles from Melbourne, Australia. Its population of 105,000 could almost fit into the stands of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, yet its national netball team has held a top-10 ranking for the past four years after a meteoric ascent.
The story of Tonga’s rise also reflects Sisifa’s unusual journey from television news anchor to sports administrator. It includes the 2022 volcanic eruption of extraordinary force, the tsunami that followed and the arrival of Covid-19 almost two years after much of the world had already been hit, which further hampered relief efforts.
Coach Jaqua Pori-Makea-Simpson (pictured) has helped CEO Salote Sisifa guide Tonga on their ascent of the world game
When Sisifa began, netball in Tonga was little more than a social game. She quickly committed the country to entering a team at the 2015 Pacific Games, where the early results were heavy losses.
“The scores... we were being beaten like it was a cricket match,”
Those defeats were closer to rugby scorelines: Tonga lost 88-21 to Samoa and 81-27 to Papua New Guinea. Sisifa then went to Tonga’s national netball governing body and asked for time to deliver change.
“Please give me five years. We're going to make some dramatic changes. If it doesn't work within the five years, I would happily resign.”
The governing body supported her, and the rebuilding process began. Sisifa needed an internationally experienced coach and wrote to eight candidates. Only one replied, and New Zealand-born Pori-Makea-Simpson joined in 2019.
The pair were frank from the outset.
“We had no dollar sign to our name. I said if that's what you're looking for, Team Tonga is not the place.”
Sisifa then set out Tonga’s ambition.
“I said, by 2025, I want Tonga to make top 10 in the world,”
Pori-Makea-Simpson said she initially doubted the target.
“I went... you're mad. That is obscene, and I'm not sure you understand what the netball world looks like.”
The rebuild also depended on recruiting players with Tongan backgrounds, even if they had never been to the country. That approach drew some criticism, but Pori-Makea-Simpson said the players shared a culture with islanders and responded strongly when brought back to Tonga.
Players with Tongan backgrounds were sought, even if they had never visited the country. This led to some backlash, but Pori-Makea-Simpson felt the players she found shared a culture with islanders.
“Taking them back to Tonga and watching them thrive and grow with their people, it's been beautiful,”
Uneeq Palavi, also known as Pav, is one of those players. She has a Samoan mother and Tongan father, grew up in Australia and became a fan favourite for the Melbourne Mavericks. In 2019, she initially ignored Tonga’s call because she did not feel ready.
Sisifa then enlisted Palavi’s Tongan grandmother to persuade her, and it worked. Tonga won silver at the Pacific Games and climbed from 42nd to 19th in the world.
However, just as the team was progressing, Tonga was hit by a volcanic eruption, tsunami and pandemic lockdown in early 2022. When the underwater Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Haʻapai volcano erupted, it produced the biggest atmospheric explosion recorded by modern instrumentation. Nasa said it was hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Four people in Tonga died, and the damage from the eruption and the subsequent tsunami was extensive. For a time, communication with the islands was difficult, and Pori-Makea-Simpson was out of the country and forced to lead without support from Tonga Netball.
“I had no team, no administration, I didn't have uniforms, I had no equipment,”
Despite that, she still had a PacificAus Sports series to prepare for and had to build a squad almost from scratch by searching social media for eligible players. Most had never met before gathering at Sydney Airport five days before the competition began.
“I didn't even know their names. They didn't know each other's names. Even when we had finished the tournament, I still didn't know everybody's surnames,”
Against the odds, Tonga won gold.
Palavi said the bond within the squad is rooted in culture rather than convenience.
“Playing for Tonga is always like playing with 15 of my other sisters,”
Tonga then made a rare appearance at the 2023 Netball World Cup, where the team adopted the name Tala, a rare bird and a symbol of hope. They finished eighth in South Africa and are now preparing for their first Commonwealth Games campaign.
Team spirit and talent have carried Tonga a long way in a short time, according to Pori-Makea-Simpson.
“I think non-Pacific Island people would call it a camaraderie. It's not a camaraderie. It's an innate spirituality that connects them,”
“In a way that is very, very hard to understand from the outside. You can feel it from the people in the crowd.
“Irrespective of what happens to us in terms of scoreboard, their pride and gratitude to us wearing their crest and their flag will never falter.
“And they're not proud of us because we're winning. They're proud of us because we're Tongan. I am probably the proudest non-Tongan walking on the planet.”
The team’s rapid rise has been built on that sense of identity and commitment, turning a program that once had nothing into one of the sport’s most striking success stories.
How far have Tonga come in netball?
Tonga have gone from no team, no coach and no training facilities to an eighth-place world ranking and a Commonwealth Games debut. Their rise began in 2014 under Sisifa and accelerated through recruitment, coaching and strong cultural ties.
What challenges did they face along the way?
The team had to overcome heavy early defeats, limited resources, a lack of equipment and uniforms, and the impact of the 2022 volcanic eruption, tsunami and Covid-19 disruption. Even the pathway side below the senior national squad has had to train in a bank’s car park.
Why has the team’s rise mattered so much?
Tonga’s progress has given the country a visible sporting success story and created a team that players and supporters identify with strongly. The squad’s results include silver at the Pacific Games, gold at the PacificAus Sports series and eighth place at the 2023 Netball World Cup.
Key Facts
- Tonga became the world’s eighth-ranked netball team after starting with no team, coach or facilities.
- They begin their first Commonwealth Games netball campaign in Glasgow against Australia on Saturday.
- Salote Sisifa became CEO of Tonga Netball in 2014 and said she would resign if she failed within five years.
- Tonga’s 2022 crisis included a major volcanic eruption, a tsunami and pandemic disruption.
- The team finished eighth at the 2023 Netball World Cup in South Africa.
