MASERU – Although he is heavy, he is however, physically fit and extremely fast, this is why Black Rhino as Fetang Selialia is commonly called, has come to be the best scrum ever, not only in his home country Lesotho, but also in the entire Eastern Free State rugby league in South Africa.

Born and bred in Ha Matala Maseru, Selialia is the last born in the family of three children, two boys and a girl of the late Thabo and ’Makamohelo Selialia. Like any other boy child, Selialia first played football at a young age while at Phethahatso English Medium before he proceeded to Lesotho High School in 1997 for his high school education. 

But upon arrival at Saule, the versatile Selialia took up took cricket while he still played football at home. He formed the first ever cricket team for the school with the likes of ’Nyane Moeti to mention a few. Being the fine footballer that he was, the Selialia was selected for the national Under-17 football team Bahlabani trials by the late Bishop Molatoli who coached the squad around 1999 - but he (Selialia) did not pass the trials.

When he left high school, he enrolled for a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) in 2002. At varsity, he joined the institution’s cricket club and played for the first team as a bowler until he graduated. He was considered a fast bowler and played an integral part in the team’s success. 

He also played basketball though briefly. When he left NUL, he met a foreigner called Dennis Labuskaris, who was interested in introducing rugby in the Mountain Kingdom. They formed a club called Maseru Kings and Labuskaris became its president, while Daniel Alwart who was an American Peace Corp was the vice president with Selialia as the secretary general. Pheko Moorosi was the team treasurer. These members served both as players and management simultaneously.

Lesotho rugby commenced its activities at the Machabeng College ground and used the field for quite some time with the approval of Ian Brooke who was part of the school management. Selialia’s first rugby match was against Qwaqwa Leopards in 2012 and he recalls the game as both exciting and painful at the same time. Maseru Kings lost by 15 to 24 points. Given his vast experience and knowledge of the sport, Alwart mentored the team and trained the players until they had a better understanding of rugby.

When Labuskaris left Lesotho later that year, Maseru Kings’ executive committee was reviewed. Selialia was elevated to the position of vice president while Litšitso Motšeremeli was appointed to the secretary general role. Thereafter Maseru Kings’ entire executive committee left the club managerial roles to form the Lesotho Rugby Association (LRA). But when they tried to register the association at the law office, they were shocked to discover that the association already existed, having being formed by Mohau Thakaso affectionately known as White Horse.

They consequently registered the rugby body as the Federation of Lesotho Rugby (FLR) and officially launched it on August 25, 2012. “At the launch, we had several including Econet Telecom Lesotho and White House Company among others, the launch was graced by the presence of the Botswana Rugby Union executive committee and as  part of the event, we played a friendly match against Bethlehem Collegians club,” Selialia said. FLR later helped in the establishment of a number of local clubs including the Centre for Accounting Studies (CAS) Wolves and LMPS Black Cobras. By the time FLR was launched, Maseru Select had already been registered.

The team was made up of players from various local teams. It played in the Eastern Free State Rugby league from April 2012 and lost all its matches during its first appearance in that league.White House Company signed a four-year M400 000 sponsorship deal with the FLR that year and the company provided the federation with services but not cash. When Alwart left Lesotho in 2014, Selialia who was at the time FLR vice president became the acting president to fill Alwart’s shoes. 

Selialia first played his international match in 2014 when Lesotho took on Swaziland in a friendly tie – the game was also Likatola (Lesotho’s national senior rugby team)’s debut international match.Lesotho lost by three points to five. The FLR applied for the Rugby Africa membership and was given a two-year waiting period. As part of the membership approval procedure, Selialia alongside Motšeremeli presented a proposal at the Rugby Africa general assembly held in Marcosies, Paris in France in December 2014. Two years down the line, at the general assembly held in Botswana where Selialia attended as the only Lesotho representative, the country was finally granted full membership.

“FRL’s executive committee is working tirelessly in ensuring that we get assistance and guidance to obtain the World Rugby membership. That will be a major achievement and it means we will be able to get  funds for development from the international body,” he said. Rugby, he said is different from other sport codes in that a country does not just automatically become a member of an international body by virtue of being a member of the continental governing body.

“The World Rugby has criteria to consider a country as its member. A country should first meet certain standards before qualifying for the membership,” he said. During the FLR annual general meeting in 2017, Selialia was officially elected as the federation president and will remain in that position until the 2021 elective annual general meeting when he will step down.

As a player, he won the Botus Water Cup in Malawi in 2017 with Likatola. He also won the Rugby Africa 15-Aside Cup in Lesotho in 2017 when they defeated Malawi 69-05 and Swaziland 67-05. Lesotho representing southern Africa was ranked number one and Ghana number two against other African regions in north, east, and west Africa. When Selialia and his teammate Motšeremeli hung up their rugby boots in October 2017, they both focused on managerial roles in their respective FLR executive committee portfolios.

Selialia’s achievements as FLR administrator include designing an Academy of Excellence with the late Kabelo Mafura, the former Minister of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation who passed away before the implementation of the project. Securing the rugby league sponsorship is one of his greatest achievements as a FLR leader. Econet Telecom Lesotho is the official rugby league sponsor with a M100 000 annual sponsorship.

FRL is now a full member of the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) and is well recognized worldwide. Selialia’s efforts saw rugby as a sport being introduced and now existing in eight districts of Lesotho with the exception of Mokhotlong and Mafeteng.

Under his tutelage, Lesotho Rugby Sevens team won the Rugby Sevens Africa cup in Mantšonyane in 2019 and Selialia considers taking a competition of that magnitude to the highlands of Mantšonyane as a great feat. He is married to ’Mateboho Selialia and the couple has two children, a boy (Thabo) and a girl (Teboho). He works fulltime as an administration officer in the Prime Minister’s office’s Disaster Management Authority (DMA) department.