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Overview
This is a video game featuring Auckland born Tongan, Jonah Lomu who made his debut as a rugby player for the New Zealand All Blacks in June 1994 at age 19. By 1997, his try scoring feats and unstoppable play saw him well established as one of the most marketable faces in world sport.
Significance
Jonah had commercial ties to multinational sportswear companies such as Adidas. This PlayStation game "Jonah Lomu Rugby" was a successful piece of merchandising based around his image and his spectacular style of play. Through "Jonah Lomu Rugby" players could pretend to be international rugby players like Lomu and replay important historical matches or entirely new ones. People around the world could create their own amazing rugby moments.
Development History
As an artefact of popular culture, this video game helps us document the history of Pacific Islanders in sport but also how some became the marketing face of rugby both in New Zealand and internationally. "Jonah Lomu Rugby" was developed and published in 1997 by Codemasters and Rage Software - who are UK based video game developers. It was made for use on personal computers and the gaming platforms PlayStation and Sega Saturn.