{"id":93018,"date":"2022-11-17T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/local-rugby-fans-celebrate-samoas-world-cup-run\/"},"modified":"2022-11-21T13:53:26","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T22:53:26","slug":"local-rugby-fans-celebrate-samoas-world-cup-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/local-rugby-fans-celebrate-samoas-world-cup-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Local rugby fans celebrate Samoa’s World Cup run"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t

Samoa fell short of of a Rugby League World Cup title<\/a>, but you wouldn’t know it from the Saturday morning scene in the parking lot of a popular Mendenhall Valley trail.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\"Rugby<\/a>

Rugby fans celebrate Samoa’s Rugby League World Cup run that ended Saturday with a loss to Australia in the finals. (Ben Hohenstatt \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

Dozens of rugby fans gathered near Kaxdigoowu Héen Dei, also known as the Brotherhood Bridge Trail, around 9 a.m., before joining a vehicle procession around Juneau to celebrate Samoa’s first-ever appearance in the World Cup finals. Flag waving, cheering and staccato horn blasts marked the occasion.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\"Vehicles<\/a>

Vehicles line up for a celebratory procession following Samoa’s Rugby League World Cup run that ended with a loss to Australia in the finals. The tournament marked Samoa’s first-ever appearance in the finals, and fans said they were proud regardless of the outcome. (Ben Hohenstatt \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

“We’re always fans no matter where we go,” said Jan Enele, who has lived in Juneau for 11 years. “It’s a proud moment for us.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Enele was one of about 40 people who joined the celebration and among the first to arrive.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Frances Vase was another early arrival. Vase said she and others watched the game, which Australia won 30-10, via a stream online and noted the event was open to the broader Juneau Polynesian community, not just people of Samoan descent.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Like Enele —and the dozens of exuberant attendees —Vase said the outcome of the game did not diminish pride in what British newspaper the Guardian described as “an unforgettable tournament.” <\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“Win our lose, we’re still proud,” Vase said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

\"Dozens<\/a>

Dozens of fans celebrate Samoa’s unprecedented Rugby League World Cup finals appearance Saturday in the Kaxdigoowu Héen Dei, also known as the Brotherhood Bridge Trail, parking lot ahead of a procession around Juneau. (Ben Hohenstatt \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

• Contact Ben Hohenstatt at (907)308-4895 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at<\/em> @BenHohenstatt. <\/em><\/p>\n\t\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Win our lose, we’re still proud.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":474,"featured_media":93019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":9,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[75,826],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-93018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-sports","tag-local-news","tag-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/474"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93018"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=93018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}