Jonny Saelua, right, who is transgender, helped American Samoa's men's team earn its first international win on Tuesday.
Jonny Saelua did not always envision herself as an international soccer player. What she really wanted to do was join a dance company and “travel the world just performing.”
“Anything modern, jazz, maybe a little bit of ballet,” said Saelua, a center back for American Samoa’s men’s team and a performing arts major at the University of Hawaii. But for now, Saelua is doing her dancing in cleats. On Tuesday, the 23-year-old Saelua played a key role in American Samoa’s 2-1 victory against Tonga in a 2014 World Cup qualifier.
It was American Samoa’s first victory in international soccer, ending a 30-game losing streak in which it had been outscored by 229-12. And Saelua apparently became the first transgender player to compete on a World Cup stage.
Saelua is part of the fa’afafine, biological males who identify themselves as a third sex in Polynesian culture. Fa’afafine means “to be a woman” in Samoan. According to 30-year-old Alex Su’a, who heads the Samoa Fa’afafine Society, there are 1,500 fa’afafine in Samoa and American Samoa.
“To be fa’afafine you have to be Samoan, born a man, feel you are a woman, be sexually attracted to males and, importantly, proud to be called and labeled fa’afafine,” Su’a said.
“The fa’afafine are culturally accepted,” he said. “They have a role in Samoan society. They are the caretakers of the elders because their brothers and sisters get married, but the fa’afafine traditionally don’t.”
Saelua agreed: “In Samoa the fa’afafine are very reliable. We can do what the boys do and what the girls do.”
In an immensely popular sport that is still encountering episodes of racism in any number of spots on the globe, it is noteworthy that Saelua has been easily accepted by her teammates.
She began playing soccer at age 11, in private school. By age 14, she had risen to be an international player for American Samoa.
“I read somewhere that it was a record when I was drafted into the national team,” Saelua said. “I was reserve the whole tournament and I had to leave because I was still in high school.”
She added that the coach “ put me in for 10 minutes.”
But she is now older, and integral to the team. “I just go out and play soccer as a soccer player,” Saelua said. “Not as transgender, not as a boy and not as a girl. Just as a soccer player.”
When the American Samoa coach Thomas Rongen — who took the United States under-20 team to three World Cup finals and won the Major League Soccer title with D.C. United in 1999 — was hired three weeks ago, he promoted Saelua to the starting lineup for the first time. His faith was repaid.
In the match against Tonga, Saelua provided an assist on one goal and made a 90th-minute goal-line clearance with American Samoa’s goalkeeper Nicky Salapu already beaten on the play.
“He’s like a brother to us and he’s like a sister to us,” Salapu said of Saelua.
“In the Samoan way, lots of people are making jokes about them,” he added in reference to the fa’afafine. “It’s difficult for their situation. I let people do whatever they want. It’s their life. He’s part of our family right now.”
Saelua, in effect returning the compliment, said she owed her confidence to the fact that teammates “make me feel like a part of them.”
“They don’t make me feel different because I am the way I am,” she said. “It is what anybody needs to feel wanted within a team. That is why I always do my best. I can’t let them down.”
American Samoa followed up its victory by tying Cook Islands, 1-1, on Thursday. On Saturday, it plays Samoa in a game that will decide who will advance to the next round of World Cup qualification, and move at least one small step closer to Brazil 2014.
For American Samoa, actually qualifying for the World Cup finals remains an almost unobtainable dream, but Saelua has hope that it could happen someday. For now though, she is concentrating on winning American Samoa’s second international game and in the process providing hope to those who do not necessarily feel they fit into a traditional male sports culture.
“I hope I can inspire people,” Saelua said. “Not only transgender but anybody who feels different in their society or community. If there’s something you love to do, go out and don’t let anybody stop you from chasing after your dreams.”
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