By Mataeliga Pio Sioa
So Mase or Coach Mo is still Manu Samoa coach. Fair enough.
He is suspended though. Rightly so.
Lakapi Samoa has made that very clear in a new media release circulated before the end of the week.
His suspension is to await the outcome of legal charges against him for alleged sexual offences.
Prior news media reporting may have suggested at first that he was sacked.
Not so according to Lakapi Samoa with the circulated media statement to set the record straight.
All the talk floating around of the man getting the boot is hurtful and demeaning.
The rugby coach is charged not convicted. Please note the emphasis here is on the term charged.
The accepted rule of simple justice is that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Simple common sense applies in the same context to what suspension is about in contrast to dismissal.
Coach Mo is suspended from his coaching duties and that is fact.
What that translates into is Lakapi Samoa is giving him the benefit of the doubt.
In simple terms he is ‘presumed innocent’ for now as far as Lakapi Samoa is concerned.
Case closed.
What comes next has to wait until the gavel drops on the final ruling in a court of law.
While that is pending Mase and his family is left in a struggle to deal with the malicious duress of the allegations.
Any normal human being burdened with the embarrassing stain of such accusations will be haunted by the scandalous implications.
The jump to conclusion of public ‘mouth-to-ear chatter’ without confirmation of facts, pose a heartless and serious threat to ones sanity and well-being.
If you are part of the ‘chatter group’ sounding off verbal condemnation whether loudly or by facial expression, try to pause a moment
If you were in Coach Mo’s shoes, how would you react to being charged and condemned without legal conviction?
Would you allow your wife and children to suffer in silence before the eyes of public condemnation without proof?
Of course it is human nature to be excited by sensational information but weigh up the costs of personal hurt to the people bearing the brunt of your gleeful ‘bubbling’ off in the ‘next person cycle.’
As a former Manu Samoa player and now coach, Mase has served to make us all proud as a rugby nation by contributing directly to the team’s triumphs.
Is mouthing off hurtful ‘chatter’ on unproven allegations just reward he deserves for all the rare moments he helped made possible for us to celebrate as a nation?
C’mon!
Give Coach Mo the benefit of the doubt. He deserves it.