In the monocultural world of ’80s rugby league, the ‘galloping garbo’ blazed a trail for the 46% of NRL players of Pasifika-Maori descent
Olsen played 29 Tests and 50 total games for New Zealand and over 100 first grade games for the Balmain Tigers, Eastern Suburbs Roosters and North Sydney Bears. Yet pioneers have different metrics beyond cold statistics: soft measures matter like inspiration, role modelling, resilience and restraint.
There had been a smattering of Pasifika/Māori players in the NSWRL but Olsen was the first to carry the burden of expectation. His form fluctuated in Sydney and he was dropped a number of times for non-performance related issues. Playing in the NSWRL, a new monocultural world hostile to outsiders, he promised his mother that regardless of the physical or verbal abuse he received, he would never use his fists to fight back and give Pasifika/Māori a bad name.
To achieve this on a losing team is a major achievement. To do so facing Wally Lewis, who had the year before won the inaugural Golden Boot award for the best player in the world, was a shock to rugby league’s cosmic order. “The influence, domination and magic of Polynesian players in the NRL was created by Olsen,” Lowe reflected. “He knew what would follow him .”
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