RUGBY › FEARBOTS
FEARBOTS.
Welfare and human stories. The voices that rugby doesn't always want you to hear.
Fearbots is an independent podcast and video platform hosted by Ofa Fainga’anuku — sitting completely outside sporting organisations by design.
At its core: a welfare and human stories platform giving professional rugby players — aspiring, current, and former, across League and Union — a voice that isn’t filtered, managed, or owned by the bodies that govern their careers.
The topics — mental health and identity, life after rugby, physical welfare, financial literacy and exploitation, Pacific and cultural identity, family and sacrifice — are the narratives Fearbots exists to challenge. Civilly, honestly, with no hostile media agenda.
THE NAME
Phonetically it lands as fiepots — Tongan slang for a know-it-all, the label used to silence people who speak up. But silence has its own cost: assimilate to the norms, defer to the institutions, don’t ask the hard questions — and you become a fearbot. Fearful and robotic.
The show owns both charges and refuses both fates. It’s not a rugby show. It’s a welfare platform that rugby is the entry point for.
TOPICS
Mental health and identity • Life after rugby • Physical welfare • Financial literacy and exploitation • Pacific and cultural identity • Family and sacrifice • The pathways and systems players navigate
SPOTIFY
Listen on Spotify
APPLE PODCASTS
Listen on Apple
YOUTUBE
Watch on YouTube
ALL EPISODES + ARTICLES
Life After Rugby: The Conversation Nobody Is Having
The transition out of professional rugby is one of the hardest things a player faces. Fearbots is here to talk about it.
Pacific Identity in Professional Rugby: Finding Your Voice
What does it mean to carry Pacific identity into professional rugby structures that weren’t built with you in mind? Fearbots goes there.
What Is Fearbots?
Fearbots is a welfare and human stories platform giving professional rugby players a voice that isn’t filtered, managed, or owned by the bodies that govern their careers. Hosted by Ofa Fainga’anuku.