Alex Elisala (17 August 1992 – 29 April 2013) was a
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...
international
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
footballer who was contracted to the
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
at the time of his death. He primarily played as a .
Early life
Elisala was born in
Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
, New Zealand, and moved to
Woodridge, Queensland
Woodridge is a town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Logan, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Woodridge had a population of 12,982 people.
Geography
The suburb is immediately north of Logan Central an ...
, Australia when he was one year old. Of
Samoan descent, he played his junior rugby league for the
Logan Brothers,
before moving to
Townsville, Queensland
The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
. Whilst there he attended
Ignatius Park College
Ignatius Park College is an independent Catholic secondary school for boys, located in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The school is affiliated with Edmund Rice Education Australia network that operates under the direction of the Congregatio ...
, and became close friends with future Cowboys teammate
Michael Morgan.
Playing career
Elisala played 69 games for the Cowboys in the
National Youth Competition from 2010 to 2012. He started his NYC career as a , and before moving into the position.
He represented the
Queensland under-20 team on 21 April 2012. In 2013, Elisala progressed into the Cowboys' NRL training squad. He began the season playing for their feeder team, the
Mackay Cutters
The Mackay Cutters are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Mackay, Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Queensland Cup in 2007, alongside th ...
, in the
Queensland Cup
The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...
. On 20 April 2013, he debuted for the
Samoan national team in their
Pacific Rugby League International
The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
match against
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...
.
Death
In the early hours of Sunday, 28 April 2013, paramedics and police were called to a Mackay CBD hotel where Elisala, 20, was found unconscious and not breathing after plunging from a hotel balcony.
Elisala was admitted to
Mackay Base Hospital, and put on life support.
He died the following evening after his condition worsened and his life support system was turned off.
Elisala had most recently played for the Cutters on Saturday night, scoring a try in their 22–22 draw with the
Tweed Heads Seagulls
The Tweed Heads Seagulls, often referred to simply as Tweed or Seagulls or Tweed Seagulls, is a rugby league club based in Tweed Heads, New South Wales. It is one of only two club teams based outside of Queensland to play in the Queensland C ...
.
Reaction
The Mackay Cutters retired jersey number 14, which Elisala had worn regularly off the interchange bench, for the remainder of the 2013 season. A minute's silence was observed at Parramatta Stadium
Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, west of Sydney CBD. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure the most notable were the Parramatta E ...
on 4 May 2013 prior to the Cowboys' NRL match against the Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL).
The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...
. The Cowboys players also wore black armbands during the game to honour Elisala. Following the suicide of Wests Tigers
The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...
-contracted Mosese Fotuaika on 28 February 2013,
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elisala, Alex
1992 births
2013 deaths
New Zealand rugby league players
New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent
Samoa national rugby league team players
Samoan rugby league players
Mackay Cutters players
Rugby league hookers
Suicides in Queensland
Rugby league players from Auckland
2013 suicides
Suicides by jumping in Australia