I met him at Auckland airport once, I approached him and told him he was the greatest All Black Full back that I had ever seen, he just gave me a grin & said "thanks mate".
He was still living in NZ at least until 2015(presumably still is, I just couldn't find a mention of him after that), so it's perhaps a little marginal to call him Fijian. I suppose he may have been generally considered Fijian at the time though. NZ also has citizens and sportspeople that moved from many countries. A former South African cricketer hit the winning runs against South Africa in a world cup semi final. It also happens quite often in reverse, a former NZ cricketer effectively won the world cup for England(albeit they didn't technically win, as Englands win was due to an umpire error) against NZ.
They lost there.. hot dogging area for good reason. The try line could go and lift itself sideways for all some knew. Others said even sailing represents blood lust. The ball was no longer egg shaped.
Ref bias is not essentially a racist thing. That is rare. Popularity rules in any sport. NZ was the top team for a long time and occasionally yes, refs were on their side, but keep in mind, refs were on Serevi's side for a long time as well. Just as today refs are on Fiji and SA's side. It is less obvious now but that is what it is. If you re-watch the Olympics, the refs were on the USA sides. (Men and womens - they were well advertised). Its getting a lot less biased now due to refs being put to task for anything near bias, but back in the day, Serevi and Rush were the guys running the show and Refs wanted to please the crowd.
It's not necessarily that either, refs from different regions are accustomed to particular styles, and interpretations of rules. I'm not saying that's necessarily the case here, but it often is.
yes he should have... if he was just another normal player, but he is known as the "little master" for a reason, he has earned respect worldwide as an ambassador for the game, that is why they didn't card him and stand by the decision. so many people in Fiji wake up to play their national sport every day for their lives because of people like Serevi, to card him for just a common body reflex as in trying to trip somebody would cause a national riot, thank god the refs didn't card him.
