Former Warrior Sione Faumuina launches ‘Unspoken’ sports talk platform

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air

Former Warrior and Kiwi league player Sione Faumuina launches his sports talk platform Unspoken on Sunday with a sit-down 30-minute chat with his former teammate Manu Vatuvei.

The two talk about life post-football and Vatuvei’s time spent in prison for importing methamphetamine.

“We talk like only mates can,” Faumuina said.

“We chat for a couple of minutes to reminisce about football but most of the conversation is about his life after football.”

Faumuina said if people want to know an athlete’s statistics, then google them.

“I’m hoping Unspoken opens up sides of the athletes not many people get the opportunity to see.

“This platform is not for athletes to take a trip down memory lane and all their achievements, but I want this to be about real conversations about who the athlete is.”

Faumuina, 42, whose fourth child has just been born, said he had come up with the Unspoken concept in 2017 but instead of kicking on with it, went into sports management - “one of the worst decisions I made because I did not enjoy it - my heart wasn’t in it”.

“We are just trying to build our digital assets. Our interview with Manu is the beginning. We have a podcast being built plus looking at a linear TV series, so there’s a lot going on.”

Each Unbroken episode will be about 30 minutes.

To watch the first episode of Unspoken featuring Manu Vatuvei on Sunday 7pm, go to https://linktr.ee/unspokennz

Joseph Los’e joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for 12 years for Te Whānau o Waipareira.