Dismay in American Samoa at sports ban following attacks

Transcript

Sports authorities in American Samoa have cancelled all sports indefinitely following last weeks attacks on school volleyball players and a team bus.

Three young men are being questioned over the first attack which left two students injured.

Our correspondent in Pago Pago, Monica Miller, says many parents are unhappy all sports are included in the moratorium. Sally Round spoke to her.

MONICA MILLER: Initially, the ASHSAA, which is the group overseeing all these school sports in high schools, had set a two-week suspension, but now all sports are cancelled indefinitely. At the same time the governor is saying to the authorities that they have to identify the culprits who were responsible for stoning the school bus and injuring the students and charge them, and also mete out the village punishment. In these villages the matai system comes into play when children or members of the family do something wrong. And that is, essentially, what the governor is very interested in doing. So far, we've had three possible suspects in the first incident which took place early last week. A stone was thrown into the gym at Leone High School while the game was going on and injured two students. And in the meantime, they're still looking for suspects in the stoning of the bus and the injuries to the students after the Fagaitua and Tafuna game.

SALLY ROUND: So what has happened with those suspects? Are they being questioned?

MM: Yes, they are being questioned. Depending on students who were at the scene to identify. And in turns out at the suspects are not students of any particular school, but they are young men from the villages where the gymnasium is.

SR: How has that moratorium on sports been received in the territory?

MM: Well, a lot of parents are not happy other sports have been affected. They said that if there's any suspension it should only happen to the volleyball league. There's also a lot of support for holding the games during the day. As for the students themselves and the players, there's a lot of support for just punishing the school that is responsible. They say that just because you're going to cancel the games, if you're going to start over again there's no guarantee that the violence will end, that they really need to get at the culprits. There's a lot of speculation that it's really boys from the village who don't have anything better to do and there's really a lot of idle time for these young men to get up to no good.

SR: How important is school sports in American Samoa?

MM: It's very important. A lot of scholarships are offered. Initially, it was mainly for football, but now we've got scouts from off-island coming for volleyball, as well, because we have volleyball in the Samoa Bowl, which is a big thing we look forward to at the beginning of each year when there's a lot of scouts on the island. Volleyball is more and more becoming a source for parents and some students to depend on for their way to college overseas.