The Cost of Relocating for Elite Athletes: An Examination of Pasifika Male Athletes' Wellbeing in the National Rugby League

Since the 1980s, the sport of rugby league has become increasingly popular with players of Polynesian descent. At the professional level, almost 45% of the players playing in Australia's elite National Rugby League competition, or NRL, are of Maori and/or Pasifika ethnicity. A significant number of those players originate from New Zealand. In Australia, due to the sheer weight of numbers of Pasifika players, the NRL has recognised the need to provide appropriate support for them and their families. They have identified risk factors for every player in the NRL system. As a result, player welfare has become a priority following the emergence of issues of player wellbeing. Incidents of depression and suicide, have become major concerns for the NRL. Pasifika players, including those from New Zealand, are not immune to those mental health challenges either. In fact, for Pasifika players those pressures may be heightened if they are not properly and intentionally supported in their host environment. My research will examine Pasifika players from New Zealand that have relocated to Australia to pursue an NRL career. I have just begun my fieldwork phase, following a systematic literature review of sport labour migration, using professional rugby league as a context.