Members of East London Rugby Club will observe a period of silence on Saturday as a tribute to former club player Sireli Matavesi who died after illness.

Sireli, the father of Fiji international and Northampton hooker Sam Matavesi, was a popular figure at the club in Memorial Park, West Ham, during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Club President Nick Bracken, who introduced him to the club, said: “Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the Matavesi family during this sad time.”

Mr Bracken remembers Sireli as a powerful number 8 forward whose speciality was the pick up and go. He said: “I recall he scored four tries in one game, all pick ups from the base of a driving scrum on the five-metre line. You just couldn’t stop him.”

Sireli played for Camborne Rugby Club and Cornwell after staying in the county following a rugby tour to the United Kingdom in 1985. He found work as a miner before coming to London for work with British Transport Police where he met Mr Bracken who was a Detective Chief Superintendent.

Sireli played for British Transport Police and East London where Mr Bracken was a player. For a while he lodged at the flat that is part of the East London clubhouse. Sid, as he was known at the club, helped put together a team of former Fijian internationals for an inner-city competition organised by Mr Bracken to coincide with the Rugby World Cup in 1991. He later returned to Cornwall to play and start a family.

East London club Chair Simon Crick said: “Sireli was a great guy. He brought terror to the opposition and music to the clubhouse.” Fellow East London player Liam O’Brien said: “I remember a pit that he and his mates built in the garden of the club flat so they could roast some pork in the embers. I also remember the songs they sang. If Sid was behind you in the scrum, you never ever went back.”

Sireli leaves three sons, Sam, who played for Fiji against England in the recent Rugby World Cup quarter-final in France, and Joel and Josh, who both played rugby to a high level with Josh also playing for Fiji as well as Newcastle, Ospreys and Racing Metro.

The East London players will observe a period of silence ahead of their Counties 1 Essex game away at Mavericks on Saturday (21 October). Mr Bracken will represent East London at Sireli’s funeral in Camborne, Cornwell, on 3 November.

Picture: With thanks to Josh Matavesi