New Year Honours 2020 - Citations for Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit For services to sport and the Samoan community

Mr Ieti Tiatia has been involved with the Samoan community in Wellington for more than 50 years.

Mr Tiatia formed the Wellington Samoan Rugby Committee in 1970, which allowed for networking of new migrants in Wellington. He established annual fixtures between Wairarapa, Palmerston North and Auckland Samoan Rugby Associations. He was President of the Committee and helped set up the Wellington Pacific Cup. He was a selector for Manu Samoa in New Zealand for the 1991 World Cup and established the inaugural New Zealand Samoan Rugby Team in 1992. He was Vice-President of the Wellington Rugby Football Union and was Assistant Manager of the Samoan Barbarians team that toured England and France in 1990. He coordinated the relief campaign between Wellington and Samoa after Cyclones Ofa and Val in the 1990s and travelled to Samoa to ensure that the donations were being used properly and providing assistance. He has been involved with the Wellington Samoan Golf Association for 30 years and organised annual inter-provincial tournaments. He led many fundraisers to ensure the sports teams he was involved with were fully equipped and uniformed and would often host meetings in his own home when venues were not available. Mr Tiatia was a sports announcer for Samoan Capital Radio for a number of years.