Empty cupboards to full hearts – Tonga’s remarkable road to GlasgowImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Tonga players emerge on to court at the 2023 Netball World CupBySophia Hartley, BBC Sport journalist in Glasgow and John Skilbeck, BBC Sport senior journalistPublished14 minutes agoNo team. No coach. No training facilities.No problem.When Salote Sisifa became CEO of Tonga Netball in 2014, she had a blank canvas. Some would call it an empty cupboard.Twelve years and much upheaval later, the Pacific Islanders are ranked eighth in the world. For context, that’s just behind Wales and ahead of Scotland and Northern Ireland.Tonga launch their first Commonwealth Games netball campaign on Saturday in Glasgow when they face Australia, the world’s preeminent team.Their story is remarkable. It tells of how TV anchor Sisifa went from reading the news to making the news, changing her country’s sporting future.It takes in national crises that include a 2022 volcanic eruption of quite staggering force, the destructive tsunami that followed, and the arrival of Covid-19 – almost two years after most of the world was first hit – to hamper relief efforts.Sisifa reported she would resign if she failed as CEO. She’s still firmly at the helm.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Coach Jaqua Pori-Makea-Simpson (pictured) has helped CEO Salote Sisifa guide Tonga on their ascent of the world gameTonga consists of more than 170 islands and is located in the South Pacific.It is about 2,600 miles from Melbourne, Australia, and its population of 105,000 could almost squeeze into the stands of the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground.The islands are home to a national netball team who have nailed down a top 10 world ranking for the past four years, but it took a meteoric rise to reach this position.Sisifa and head coach Jaqua Pori-Makea-Simpson have travelled thousands of miles to recruit players, securing their star shooter thanks to a persuasive grandma.They still face challenges, with their pathway side – below the senior national squad – having to train in a bank’s car park.When Sisifa signed up, she found netball in Tonga was little more than a social game.She swiftly committed Tonga to entering a team for the 2015 Pacific Games.”The scores… we were being beaten like it was a cricket match,” she recalls.More like rugby scorelines perhaps – Tonga lost 88-21 to Samoa, and 81-27 to Papua New Guinea.Sisifa went to the national governing body for netball in Tonga and reported: “Please give me five years. We’re going to make some dramatic changes. If it doesn’t work within the five years, I would happily resign.”The national body backed Sisifa, so she got to work.She needed a coach with international pedigree and so wrote to eight candidates. Only one replied.New Zealand-born Pori-Makea-Simpson joined in 2019.Sisifa remembers their frank first conversation: “We had no dollar sign to our name. I reported if that’s what you’re looking for, Team Tonga is not the place.”Then came mention of Tonga’s vision.”I reported, by 2025, I want Tonga to make top 10 in the world,” Sisifa told BBC World Service.Pori-Makea-Simpson recalls: “I went… you’re mad. That is obscene, and I’m not sure you understand what the netball world looks like.”Players with Tongan backgrounds were sought, even if they had never visited the country. This led to some backlash, but Pori-Makea-Simpson felt the players she found shared a culture with islanders.”Taking them back to Tonga and watching them thrive and grow with their people, it’s been beautiful,” she reported.The spirit of Tala: The rapid rise of Tonga’s netball teamCommonwealth Games 202623 July 2026Listen on Sounds
