‘England vs America’: The friendly war that unites a Tokelau atoll

Every January, Tokelau stops as its people come together for an annual cricket tournament, but it’s played differently here. Elena Pasilio takes us inside the colour, feasting and culture of territory’s beloved sport.

Dawn had barely broken over Nukunonu, the roosters were crowing, and the church bells were ringing. Already, the island was electric, the excitement growing.

It was another day of war in Tokelau. Well, that’s how some locals described it. It was Egelani vs Amelika (England vs America), the atoll’s two cricket teams.

Cricket is the national sport in Tokelau, a remote New Zealand territory made up of three atolls about 500km north of Samoa, and today is the latest in a month-long tournament.

Every holiday season, the people of Tokelau come together for a seven-round tournament which lasts until the end of January, which is when everyone has to return to work.

Fakaofo and Atafu have their own competitions, but it is Nukunonu where Egelani and Amelika do battle.

All three atolls come together every few years.

“It’s our sport as a community and it’s a time for us to come together and be happy,” said Ioane Tumua, 76, an elder of team Amelika. “Back in the days we would have cricket every day for weeks at a time, but we didn’t have work back then – we mostly lived off the land and it was a simpler time.”

Tokelau has its own style of the game, a hybrid of cricket and kilikiti, without the pomp, white trousers or formality of a British test match, but with as many as 100 players per team, and an island-wide feast instead of a tea break.

The tournament is an annual tradition, and most of the country takes part. The atolls are a multi-day boat journey from anywhere else in the world, so there’s little escape. That means everybody goes all in well before the first ball is bowled.

The day starts with mass at 6am sharp, children running to Whinagalo Paia Cathedral, elbowing each other and jeering. “Nice day for a paint,” they’d say. (Members of the losing team are doused in a ‘paint’ of flour mixed with water).

After mass, they all get to work preparing the after-match feast at the umu. A young man still sleeping on a mattress on a verandah in the morning breeze is rattled awake by his cousins, impatiently waiting for him to get ready.

“We have to grate the coconuts, hurry!” they said, before rushing to join the aunties, who had already been working since before dawn. It’s not long before he’s thrown an old-style coconut grater, and told to get cracking.

At the umu, the adults hurriedly finish their last-minute chores, preparing and chopping vegetables, while others dealt to the fish the men had caught the day before. They lowered the pots down onto the hot glowing rocks, before the men raced home to get themselves ready.

On Tokelau – population 1450 – cricket is serious business. Per-capita, the fervour around it could outdo India. First introduced here by British missionaries in the late 1800s, the names Egelani and Amelika were first adopted after World War II, and they’ve stuck around since.

“Nukunonu was halved in two to make the teams,” said Tumua. “The North end of the island was Egelani and the South was Amelika.”

At one stage, Tumua said, there was also team ‘Peletania,’ after Britain, and ‘Niuhila,’ after New Zealand. But it’s Egelani and Amelika that have stuck.

By 8.30am, Egelani had gathered as a sea of red, wearing their bright shirts and rose-patterned sarongs, children at the front waving tall flags. They started by marching to local priest Father Penehe’s house for a blessing.

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(Source: RNZ pacific news 25 January 2021)