Neemia Tialata
Encyclopedia
Neemia Stanley Tialata is a New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 footballer. As well as representing New Zealand, he also plays for the Hurricanes
Hurricanes (Super rugby franchise)
The Hurricanes are a New Zealand professional Rugby union team based in Wellington that competes in the Super Rugby competition...

 in Super Rugby and for Wellington
Wellington Rugby Football Union
The Wellington Rugby Football Union is the official governing body of rugby union in the city of Wellington, the capital of New Zealand...

 in the Air New Zealand Cup
Air New Zealand Cup
The ITM Cup is New Zealand's annual professional domestic Rugby union competition, taking place from late July through October . It was founded in 2006 with 14 teams, after the National Provincial Championship was split into two separate competitions. The other 12 provincial teams from the NPC...

 when available.

Early life

Tialata was born in Lower Hutt but moved, when he was one, to American Samoa
American Samoa
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...

 with his parents who were undergoing religious training in Kanana Fou Theological Seminary. The family returned to their vocation in New Zealand when Tialata was five with his late mother Sipoutasi, late father Rev. Pelema and sisters. He was the only boy and was the third child out of the four.

His father died after a year of serving at the CCCAS church in Porirua, New Zealand followed by his mother four years after. Tialata and his three sisters now reside with his aunt whom he now calls his mother (Nu'ulopa) and her five children whom Tialata also now considers his brothers and sisters.

Career

Tialata debuted for Wellington in 2003 and was selected for the Hurricanes in 2004. Tialata thrust himself into the All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

 selection frame as a young prop with his strong play throughout the 2005 season and made his Test
Test match (rugby union)
Test match in rugby union is a match recognised as being a full international match by at least one of the participating teams' governing bodies. It is an unofficial but widely used term in the sport....

 debut in the first match of the All Blacks Home Nations
Home Nations
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on the context. Politically, it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom...

 tour – against Wales – in November that year. Formerly a loosehead prop, Tialata now concentrates his efforts on the tighthead side of the scrum but retains the valuable ability to cover both sides.

He was dropped from the 2010 Tri Nations squad due to poor form.

Personal life

In his downtime from rugby he is a keen guitar player and an artist with a flair for painting. He also has designed tattoos for himself and some of his teammates, most notably Ma'a Nonu
Ma'a Nonu
Ma'a Allan Nonu is a professional Samoan rugby union player from New Zealand. Nonu plays for the Wellington Lions in the ITM Cup and the New Zealand All Blacks...

 who has one of Tialata's creations on his arm. Tialata himself has a large tattoo on his arm and back depicting his own background, family and life.

Tialata comes from a very musical backgrounded family and also has his younger sister playing the organ for the choir of their church EFKAS Kanana Fou in Wainuiomata. His hero/role model Tana Umaga
Tana Umaga
Jonathan Ionatana Falefasa "Tana" Umaga, ONZM is a New Zealand rugby union footballer and former captain of the national team, the All Blacks. He played for the Hurricanes starting with the Super 12's inception in 1996 and took over the captaincy in 2003...

, Michael Umaga, and Justin Va'a
Justin Va'a
Justin Va'a is a prop for the Samoan national rugby team and the Scottish club Glasgow Warriors in the Celtic League....

 also attend the same church. When he has free time he goes to church and is an active member of the choir and is also stil in Sunday School and the youth. He enjoys the company of his Christian church family. He has a two nieces who he lives with whose names are Tasi Tialata and Vineta.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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