Now he is battling to keep Tongan teens away from the sport.
Likiliki has fond memories of winning the Moascar Cup with Westlake Boys High School in 1989 and playing in the North Harbour secondary schools representative rugby team.
However these days he is more focused on attracting young athletes to the round ball game as Tonga Football Federation social responsibility officer and Just Play Project Manager.
“Rugby has always been the game for Tongans,” Likiliki says.
“I grew up in rugby crazy Tonga in one of the villages – Longolongo. I did not play football growing up but used to watch my elder brother play it.”
Football came into Likiliki’s life after he spent some time studying in Iceland on a United Nations Scholarship.
“When I got home from iceland, I had brought my sons aged six and four football boots, small footballs and some Manchester United t-shirts.”
The timing was right for Likiliki’s family to be catching the football bug.
The Just Play Programme was taking off in Tonga and offered an alternative to the traditional rugby route.
Suddenly all of Likiliki and his wife’s spare time and resources were now spent at the football field with the Veitongo village kids team.
“Our sons loved it and were getting exercise and making a lot of friends,” Likiliki says.
Likiliki turned down a job with Tonga Rugby in 2010 to take up his roles in football.
This month the Tongan national U-13 and U-15 football teams are playing outside the island nation for the first time.
In the touring party is six national sprinters as well as athletes who are stars in other sporting codes.
“It is hard to get young athletes involved in football because it is not yet a game that Tonga has excelled in,” Likiliki says.
“The opportunities available through rugby to study and play in New Zealand, Australian and in Japanese High Schools makes rugby more appealing to both parents and government.
“Most players who come to football are also rugby union and rugby league players. It is a challenge to maintain players to play only football. This tour ia a step in that direction.
“We aim to develop a squad that has the football fever in their blood.”
Many of the 41 players who have made the trip to Auckland have never been on a plane before and lack the resources of their Kiwi counterparts.
“We have three kids that will be sharing one pair of boots and sometimes they will just play bare feet against someone who wears boots.
“They are passionate about football though,” Likiliki says.
Football’s increasing popularity in Tonga means the national body is struggling to keep up.
“FIFA and Oceania Football have put in a lot of development into the infrastructures and coaching coaches but it is not enough to meet the demands of our programmes,” Likiliki says.
“This tour will show us where we are and where we need to be in our development. We will take back our learning and apply it to our pathway forward and upwards.”
The tour is also about more than football, it is about new life experiences for the teenagers.
“It is the experience to see, feel, experience and strive for something better.”
Story courtesy of Felicity Reid and the North Shore Times

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