Olsen Filipaina


Olsen Orekewa Filipaina is a former professional rugby league footballer who represented both New Zealand and Western Samoa.

Playing career

Filipaina started his career with the Mangere East Hawks in the Auckland Rugby League competition. He was named the best back in the competition in 1977 before winning the Rothville Trophy as player of the year in 1978. In 1979 he was both the top try-scorer and the top goal-kicker in the competition.
Filipaina moved to Sydney in 1980, joining the Balmain Tigers. He spent five seasons at the club, playing in 77 games and ammasing 225 points. After a one-year spell at the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in 1985 Filipaina played for two years with the North Sydney Bears. During his time in the NSWRL Premiership Filipaina claims he suffered from racial abuse and sledging.
In 1990, he captained Ryde-Eastwood to victory in the inaugural Metropolitan Cup final.

Representative career

An Auckland representative, Filipaina was part of the Auckland side that defeated Great Britain, Australia and France in the space of 20 days in 1977.
Filipaina was first picked for the New Zealand national rugby league team in 1977. In 1983 and again in 1985 he was picked for the Kiwis despite playing in the Sydney reserve grade competition, both times inspiring the side to defeats of Australia. He was named the man of the series in 1985.
In total he played in 50 matches for the Kiwis, including 28 tests where he scored 108 points. As of 2010, his 108 points places him sixth on the point scoring list.
In 1988 he captained Western Samoa in the Pacific Cup.

Later years

Filipaina remains in Sydney since his retirement, living in Ryde. He works the same garbage run the Balmain Tigers helped him get when he first moved to Australia. From this employment opportunity he had the nickname “The Galloping Garbo” during his playing days.
In 2007 he was named one of New Zealand Rugby League's "Legends of League".

Personal life

Filipaina is the son of a Samoan boxer and a Maori mother.
Two of Olsen's brothers, Jerry and Alf, are involved in politics in Auckland.
His son, Quin, played in the Harold Matthews Cup side for the Tigers. Another son, John, was arrested in 2006 and charged with robbery.