As you may or may not know, we lost two of our former players, from our Championship season two seasons ago, in a car accident on their way back from Las Vegas 7's Rugby. Four teenagers passed away in the accident and the lone survivor, who is a current player, is currently recovering in the hospital after coming out of a coma on Tuesday morning
The families are experiencing emotional devastation along with funeral service or medical costs from this tragedy. The Warthogs are looking to make miracles from this tragedy by gathering our local community, the RUGBY community, and hopefully international community to come together to support the families. We expect the costs to be a minimum of $75,000 amongst the families and this is our fundraising goal. I am asking each of you to pass along this message to as many as possible, in whatever format you believe will assist us in obtaining this goal.
A simple way for us to reach this goal is if every youth, men's, collegiate, women's, and or any team to collect $5 from each of their players and send a check. For those that are unable to make a financial contribution, we simply request prayers for the families, our community, and the injured Hunter Halatoa.
Facebook Pages for the Families and/or our team : Page for 4 Oakland Angels Page for Oakland Warthogs How to donate : Donations will be accepted through March 15, 2013. A. Visit www.oaklandwarthogsrfc.com and hit the Donate button at the top of the page. Paypal and/or credit card donations can be performed here. B. Contact Ryan Burke at burke4rugby@gmail.com if you want to send a check. Donations are not tax deductible because the funds will go to individuals, not the public. Newslinks of Accident Family grieves for four Oakland teens killed in crash Hundreds at Castlemont High gather to remember teens killed in Mojave crash Funeral Services Expected to be held on weekend of 2/23/13. Details as they become available will be uploaded on facebook pages noted above and www.oaklandwarthogsrfc.com Benefit Concert Fundraise 4 of the five passengers were part of the band Valufa. They are a good reggae genre band and made friends with all artists they played shows with so many of the good artists are paying tribute by playing a benefit concert on Saturday, March 2, 2013 in Oakland. More information to follow. Who to contact with other questions Ryan Burke Who were the three ruggers that passed away? David "Momo" Moa 8 Man for the Oakland Warthogs 2011 NCYRA Varsity Silver Division Championship Team, son of David Moa of the Oakland Barbarians Men's Team. David Moa was a great kid and teammate that always showed up to practice and loved playing sports and being a part of a team. He was a load to bring down. He was often quiet although he was a singer in his family band Valufa. He was often quiet with a serious look on his face, so it was always a joy to get him to smile. He was attending and playing football at Laney College. Soasi "George" Moa Tight Head Prop for the Oakland Warthogs 2011 NCYRA Varsity Silver Division Championship Team, son of Lani Moa of the Oakland Barbarians Men's Team. He was a joy to have around and always showed up on game day to compete for most meters after contact as well as broken tackles. He became more committed as the season went along and played a big part of us being a championship team. He was always good about cracking a joke at the right time and getting teammates to laugh and smile. Rachel Fisi'iahi played front row for the Alameda Riptide team in the 2010-11 season. She always came ready to play, and her sense of humor and kindness were beloved by many both on and off the field. Rachel was always willing to put in extra work and time, and it showed on the field with her bruising runs. Rachel graduated from Oakland High School in 2011 and was a student at CCSF. She will be missed greatly by the Alameda Rugby family. Malia Moa was David Moa's youngest sister who played the keyboard in the band Valufa. She was just like older brother, except not so quiet. She was fun to be around and wanted everybody to be happy and have a good time. She could be found cheering at every rugby game that David played in. She was a Senior at Castlemont High School, in Oakland. Ryan Burke, President Rugby is a sport for all which is proud of its values and remains true to them. The Game’s core values are:
Oakland Warthogs Youth Rugby Program
Source : http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/by_country/u_s/7008989/oakland_rugby_tragedy