Soama Tafia

Soama Tafia (born 16 February 1947 in Nukulaelae) is both a Tuvaluan football councilor and reverend of the Tuvaluan Church, (Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu) which makes him one of the most important religious man of Tuvalu. He is a graduate of the Pacific Theological College. At this moment he is program secretary for the Church of Tuvalu.

Soama Tafia is Chairman of the Tuvalu Games 2012 as well, the most important sport event in Tuvalu. As vice-chairman of the Tuvaluan TNFA, he is responsible for all leagues, especially the Tuvalu A-Division. He also acted as team manager on several tournaments.

TNFA career
In 2010 he was team manager of the Futsal team that participated on the Oceanian Futsal Championship under guidance of head coach Toakai Puapua and trainer Kaua Solomona. As Tuvalu lost all 6 games, they ended 7th and last in their pool.

Tafia was also present as team manager during the successful 2011 Pacific Games, as Tuvalu set national records for both scored goals, and points accumulated during the tournament. Despite this success, they did not reached the group stages. Assistant head coach Peter Maas made some remarks about Tafia:

"Te motou tamana tela i luga i te lagi. Ke fapu tou igoa. Ke oko mai tou Maalo". Our reverend Soama Tafia murmurs the first phrases of Our Father, during the ritual circle conversations. Whether we like it, or not, Tuvalu supplied us with a holy man during labor hours. Surprisingly, the reverend is also vice chairman of the Tuvaluan FA. When head coach Foppe de Haan shouts: "you're defending like sissies!", the holy man frowns, but remains silent.