The Tongan tourist community congratulates Canadian “Tonga-phile” Andrew Joachim for proving himself the Rugby Maddest fan. Andrew has just been announced the winner of the Rugby Maddest competition promoting Tonga to Rugby World Cup enthusiasts.

In March this year the Tongan tourism community launched a worldwide advertising campaign to attract the Rugby World Cup fanbase. The campaign targeted the 85,000 fans expected to travel to New Zealand for the World Cup. Competitors were invited to upload videos proving their rugby-madness onto the campaign website. Tonga was the first country to launch a World Cup Tourism campaign after New Zealand. Other Pacific Island nations have since embarked on their own promotions.

The ambitions of the Tongan tourism partners were well-placed. The site attracted thousands of visitors with over 13,000 views of the 68 submitted videos up for competition. Participants in the competition came from as far away as Russia, Argentina, Romania, South Africa, the UK, America and Canada.

Andrew is a rugby fanatic and previously lived in Tonga for six months. He speaks Tongan and has been looking for a way to return to the Friendly Islands ever since. He submitted three high-quality entries to the competition, greatly impressing the judges. Andrew’s reward is an all expenses-paid holiday to Tonga during the World Cup.

To see Andrew’s winning entry, runner-up submissions and the full list of entries, visit:

Rubgy Maddest