Why Digby's happy doing things his own way

JAMIE PANDARAM
July 14, 2010

Wallabies back Digby Ioane bucks nearly every stereotype of a professional sportsman, writes Jamie Pandaram.

His eldest sister controls all of his lucrative finances, down to giving him a $500-a-week budget. He is too scared to tell his parents he drinks alcohol. And he has one friend in the world. Digby Ioane is not who you thought he was.

The Wallabies winger lives an off-field existence so meek it's a wonder where he finds the power and aggression that makes him one of the game's most fearsome players on it.

''You need to hang out with positive people, it's hard to trust people in life, the only people I trust are my family,'' Ioane says. ''I'll be honest, I ain't got no mates. I've only got one close mate who I met at school. Mum and Dad told me there's no good in having heaps of mates in life. The backstabbing, I've seen it a lot with my brothers. They just bring you down.''

Ioane also has a unique relationship with his eldest sister, Oki, who he calls ''Mum'', while she refers to him as her ''son''.

Because Ioane is the youngest of nine children, Oki, 48, took on a more parental role with him to help their ageing parents, and now acts as his manager and financial advisor. She has helped him buy three investment properties, and is strict with his spending.

''I am given $500 a week, and if I want to buy anything like a TV, I have to ask her first, and she says she'll think about it,'' says Ioane, who turns 25 today.

Oki also negotiated his six-figure ARU contract - ''managers just want your money'' - with Ioane rejecting a $1.1 million-per-season offer from a Japanese club to remain a Wallaby and pursue his World Cup goal. A major factor in Ioane rejecting the millions in Japan was Wallabies coach Robbie Deans.

''I never had a coach that could be honest with me,'' he admits. ''I had a big issue with that. If a coach couldn't be honest with me, I would just be a prick and do my own thing. Then you've got to do it the harder way, because there are no shortcuts. But it's a lot easier when you've got someone who is open with you, and you develop that friendship.

''I was going to go overseas to Japan, there was crazy money over there. He [Deans] flew over to Melbourne to meet my mum and dad, my whole family, and was very honest. Mum and Dad liked him, I thought about it and I decided to stay. The money can come later on. I want to play for Australia, I would rather that than chase money.''

There has never been a shortage of inspiration within his family. Ioane's father Muliagatele Natuitasina - who played for Samoa as a breakaway against New Zealand Maori - used to walk up to five hours to and from work each day when he arrived in Brisbane, unable to speak or understand English well enough to catch public transport, and tying knots on trees to remember the path home.

Ioane's brothers found the wrong path, and through their hard lessons the baby of the family stayed on track.

''From the bad things they've done, I've taken all the good things you need to learn,'' Ioane says. ''At the age of 15, my older brother was into smoking weed, but they threatened me never to take drugs.

''And having kids at an early age, I learned what that can do to your life. My brother got a girl pregnant at 15 and he was an awesome rugby player, and then he came to Melbourne and he's got 14 kids to different girls. I don't want to be like that.

''And then another brother who used to bash people, I didn't want to be like that. All my sisters were the good ones. The three boys in my family, I couldn't believe their lives.

''But they were like my teachers. All the bad things they've done in life, they'd tell me stories, and I knew I'd stay away from that … if it wasn't for them I'd be a street kid.''

The raw nature of his upbringing has given Ioane the strength to make hard decisions, like when he made the controversial choice to turn his back on the Western Force mid-contract and move to Queensland at the end of the 2007 season.

''I said I was going home, the coaches were angry, everyone was angry, the media was massive, 'Digby's homesick'. You get the public talking shit about you, tough luck, this is my life,'' he says. ''There are things in life you do where you've got to be happy.''

And religiously devout, Ioane rarely drinks. ''At 21, I had my first drink, and my mum [Fialauia] and dad hated it,'' he says. ''They still don't know I drink, that's how scared I am. I ask my second mum, my sister, 'Can I have one or two drinks?'

''I won't drink in front of them, I'm scared I will lose that respect.''

Interesting, if not amazing, story.
I think I speak for many though in saying it wasn't his leaving that pissed people off, more his going back on a handshake agreement and tying up valuable recruiting time. His motives for going home are more than understandable, his method debatable.