Sonny Fai (20 March 1988 – 4 January 2009) was a professional

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 played for the

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

Background

Fai 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 of Samoan descent. Fai often mentioned throughout his life how close he was with this family and how proud he was to originate from

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 ...

Early years

Fai played only one senior game for his junior club, the Mangere East Hawks, before being promoted to the

Counties Manukau Jetz The Counties Manukau rugby league team represents the Counties Manukau zone in the Albert Baskerville Trophy. Previously, teams representing Southern Auckland and the Franklin district of New Zealand have competed in the Lion Red Cup and Barte ...

in the Bartercard Cup. A Warriors development player since 2003, he later played for the Auckland Lions in the 2007 NSWRL Premier League and the Junior Warriors in the 2008 Toyota Cup. Fai made ten appearances in the Toyota Cup, scoring five tries. Fai attended De La Salle College, Mangere East.

Playing career

Fai made his

NRL 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 ...

debut on 23 March 2008 against the Parramatta Eels at Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand. Fai was named the

Warriors A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

2007 Under-20 Player of the Year. A powerful back rower who impressed for the Auckland Lions when he debuted in the NSWRL Premier League in 2007, scoring 14 tries in 21 games. He was named in the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and Samoan training squads for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

Representative career

Fai made representative teams from a young age, first making the

under-16s in 2003. Fai made the

Junior Kiwis The Junior Kiwis side represents New Zealand in the sport of rugby league. They are commonly known as the Junior Kiwis, after the native bird of that name. Since 2010, they are an under-20s side, with players selected from the NRL, Intrust Sup ...

in 2004 and New Zealand 'A' in 2007.

Disappearance

Fai went missing at around 7 pm on 4 January 2009, after being caught in a

rip current A rip current (or just rip) is a specific type of water current that can occur near beaches where waves break. A rip is a strong, localized, and narrow current of water that moves directly away from the shore by cutting through the lines of bre ...

after saving his brother and four cousins when they got into difficulty at Te Henga (Bethells Beach),

. Despite extensive searches his body was never found, and on 13 August 2009 Chief coroner Neil McLean announced in the Auckland District Court that he drowned.

Legacy

The New Zealand Warriors, in honour of Fai, kept his name on the playing roster for the 2009 season, in accordance with their team motto "Keeping the Faith". The Warriors wore black armbands for their opening NRL match of the 2009 season, as well as jerseys embroidered with Fai's signature and official team number in honour of him. The Warriors dedicated their Round Five home match to Fai's memory. The match was played on 5 April 2009 and the Warriors were defeated by the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

, 22–16.

References

External links

New Zealand Warriors profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fai, Sonny 1988 births 2009 deaths Auckland rugby league team players Counties Manukau rugby league team players Deaths by drowning in New Zealand Junior Kiwis players Missing person cases in New Zealand New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent New Zealand Warriors players Mangere East Hawks players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league second-rows Rugby league centres Rugby league locks Samoan rugby league players People lost at sea People educated at De La Salle College, Māngere East