19. Lailavu's Triumph

As the drummers and dancers took their places on the terraces, the youth teams ran out onto the field. All the players were aged between fourteen and seventeen and they were drawn from all parts of the Village. To provide a good mix of areas, a line from Our Granny’s House to the Hangar divided the Village into roughly equal parts.

One team was selected from the left, south of the line and the other from the northern part of the Village to the right of it. The teams were a mixture of every type of development – both included the full range from blue bloods of the upper hillside to the ragged children of the slums.

They were coached by fraction coaches (whose teams had already been eliminated from the championship) and selected on merit after innumerable practice and elimination games.
Lacking the power of the adult teams, the players trained for speed and agility so that the match showed a fluent passing game with runners dodging and weaving up and down the length of the field. Drawn from different fractions, the players were supported by their families, friends and neighbours, with none of the fanaticism built up over the years by the fixed teams.

This good-natured rivalry was important because the crowd was mixed with supporters intermingled in a way that would have been dangerous for the hard core fans of the big teams in the second half of the event. As the players ran onto the field, they waved to their relatives and neighbours who responded enthusiastically, pointing out to the people nearest to them the players that they knew.

The match began with people shouting encouragement and applauding good work, even by the opposing team. The ball was relatively small and light and the players handled it skilfully. Their commitment, their speed and grace and even the occasional mistake – all in a spirit of good nature and sportsmanship made the game a delight to watch.

Play moved up and down the field, first to one end and then to another. The attention of the crowd followed the individual players, yelling encouragement for those from the same part of the Village or for relatives who happened to be playing for the other side. At half time, the South were in the lead by five to three but it did not seem to matter as the spectators discussed who had excelled and who had made mistakes.

When play restarted, the team from the North took control, running and weaving with the ball for a touchdown within the first ten minutes. Five to four. Then the South took possession and brought themselves to within a few yards of the line before being robbed of the ball, allowing the North to run in a second touchdown with a series of long passes up the length of the field, gracefully and economically cutting through the opposition.

The last fifteen minutes kept the crowd alive with excitement as first one then the other team appeared to have the match won. The lead changed five times as first the North, then the South scored. At last, with the North leading by eight to seven, the South gained possession and began a series of running plays to take them to the North line. A Touchdown would tie the match.

The ball snapped and the South Quarterback took the pass. His wide receiver was in the end zone. The ball flew straight as an arrow but, in his excitement, the receiver took his eye off the ball and missed the pass. Incomplete. The whistle blew and the game was over; the field left to young and beautiful girls who, drilled as thoroughly as the players, gave another demonstration of dancing.

This game, with players about to enter their footballing prime, seemed to augur well for the future of the sport in the new stadium but, had we realised, it was the second game of the afternoon that demonstrated the shape of the what was to come.

The teams took the field, larger and heavier than the juniors and without their joy in playing. To them this was serious business, with famous players determined to advance their reputations.
Within five minutes of the start, a judgement by the referee was vigorously contested by the team from the Hill. This was followed, ten minutes later, by an outbreak of fighting among the players with two from the Field and one from the Hill suspended from the game for ten minutes and a first Down to the Hill. The famous players seemed ill humoured and leaden footed.

The game became a war of attrition between the two teams, with neither prepared to take any sort of risk. On both sides, the predominant style of play was to run the ball with making the minimum of passes required for a first down. Play ground up and down in the middle of the field with fans of both sides becoming frustrated and bad tempered.

The new moat, separating the players from the spectators meant that no invasion of the playing field (like that which took place on the day of the Great Riot) was possible and this was probably a good thing, because the restive fans would almost certainly have taken matters into their own hands had they been able to. In the inaugural championship in Our Granny’s new stadium it was already clear, for those who could see it, that the moat was the start of a new era.

The players were no longer just local lads playing a game in the afternoon. Even if the Guardians had not formed a wall surrounding the playing area, no-one unauthorised could have joined in the game. Up on their elevated platform the Gardeners and the Senior Guardians were separate and safe from the crowds on the terraces. Lailavu would not be losing his sarong at this match.

At the halfway point, the scores were just two points to each team. Neither seemed capable of breaking through the other’s defence. The third quarter, however, brought a change. The Field changed their formation and a different player took on the role of quarterback and the game began to take off. He was prepared to throw longer passes and, with the grace of a dancer, to marshal his team mates on the offence. In quick succession, he gained two first downs and then threw a long pass into the end zone.

The crowd, frustrated after the first two quarters of defence, were suddenly cheering and stamping. A second touchdown followed quickly and the Hill, in possession, recognised that their only chance of winning lay in attack and also began to play more adventurously. They scored but this was soon matched by the Field.

The crowd roared their approval and the players responded with feats of athleticism that separated them even further from the rest of the Village. This match was the real beginning of football as a sport to be watched rather than played in our village. The players on the other side of the moat were changing before our eyes into a different type of person.

They would be surrounded by servants, managers and administrators, buying and building new luxurious houses in the best parts of the Village. They would generate new occupation for craftsmen who would supply them with every luxury from comfortable, hand made shoes and clothing to carved furniture and vast meals cooked from the finest ingredients money could buy.

The new stadium was showing us, although we did not see it at the time, the future of the Village, the separation of the Gardeners and the Guardians and the football heroes, each in their own place and each playing out their role.

But as the match drew to a close, no one was thinking about that. The crowd screamed and shouted support for their teams as if the result was a matter of life and death for them. People who had spent the week worrying about their jobs once the stadium was built now lost themselves in the progress of the ball up and down the field.

The Hill scored again, and then the Field. The scores levelled at six each and then, as the final quarter came to an end, the Field scored again and, suddenly, the Match was over. The Field had won by seven downs to six. The winning team ran up and down, their jubilant yells lost in the frenzied noise of the crowd, while the losers walked glum and silent to the exit. Officials marshalled the teams and led them up to the Gardener’s viewing platform, where they were to receive their trophies.

Lailavu rose to his feet, tall and broad on the new platform, he seemed to tower, solid and immovable as the island itself. He seized his loudhailer. The Great Conch blew and the stands fell silent. He began to address the crow. He told them of Our Granny’s care and the generosity with which she had given the new stadium to the village. He announced that this was not the end of her generosity. She had decided, he said, to continue work on draining the marshy land by the river to provide space to plant more crops for her people.

Her Grandson, Manaku Jim would also be sponsoring the training program for one of the teams and the Captain of the Guardians would be sponsoring another. The new swamp draining project would create new jobs for those who had worked so hard and so successfully to build the stadium, and the old football field would now be ploughed and cultivated by the Guardians of the Tractor to provide supplies for the Village.

He presented medals to the losing players and then larger ones to the winning team. Finally, he presented a model of the Tractor to the captain of the winning team, declaring them champions for the year.

“And now,” he said, "I would like to draw your attention to a great advance that has been produced by Our Granny's Guardians. I would like you to listen carefully."
The crowd hushed and listened puzzled. Everything seemed completely normal and they began to shake their heads.
"You can all hear," he continued, "the sound of The Tractor as it powers the spotlight that is shining down on me as it starts to get dark. Well now, if you will listen again."
The engine of The Tractor stopped. There was a slight flicker and then the spotlight brightened again, shining limpidly down on the massive bulk of the reverend Gardener.
"What you are seeing," Lailavu said, "Is electrical power produced not by The Tractor, but by the poser of our river. It has been captured by Our Granny's Guardians, tamed and led to help us so that we can use it whenever we wish, while The Tractor is free to do other things.

Our Granny is truly great and we should give thanks to Her for giving this mission to Her guardians and, in particular to Lieutenant Bambafama, and of course to the team who have worked so hard down by the river to achieve this great feat."

He shook the Lieutenant's hand and the crowd applauded furiously. He continued.

“Our Granny has provided a feast for us all this evening and I would like to invite…” he paused and looked around.
“I would like to invite…” He repeated, suddenly seeming confused. “I would like to invite…” He stepped backward and sat down in his chair and was surrounded by a group of Gardeners.

Tahmo Lukuni took up the loud hailer “There is nothing to be concerned about,” he announced “Lailavu, Our Granny’s Reverend Head Gardener will rest for a moment. In the meantime, I repeat his invitation to the feast that Our Granny has provided. She invites you all to eat and to drink and to enjoy the opening of this stadium, Her gift to Her people!”