Confirmed: Sewabu gets regional rugby job
Sewabu was shortlisted for the Fijian Drua Chief Executive Officer position but was not considered and was in the run for the Fiji National Sports Commission CEO position when this offer came.
Koli Sewabu is the first Fijian to be the International Partnership Officer for tralia.Oceania Rugby, based in Sydney, Aus
His new role will see him working closely with Rugby Australia (RA) on all PacificAus Sports Programme (rugby) and Sport for Development programmes to the Pacific.
The Pacific countries include Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and the rest of the Oceania member unions. He takes up his new office next month. Sewabu yesterday indicated that he was shortlisted for the Fijian Drua Chief Executive Officer position but was not considered and was in the run for the Fiji National Sports Commission CEO position when this offer came.
“This is a three year consultancy contract,” Sewabu said.
The former Fiji Rugby Union national development manager’s new role looks at potential women’s rugby pathways through the Oceania Women’s Championship while working closely with Rugby Australia and World Rugby on women combined programmes.
“It includes looking at high performance professional development opportunities for Pacific teams. This includes coaching, match officiating, strength & conditioning (S&C), managing teams, performance analysts and potential contracts for women and men,” he said.
“The role also assists the Oceania competition manager for the Oceania Men’s Under-20 programme and looking at potential pathways to elevate performance for Fiji, Samoa & Tonga through their Junior World Championship and Junior World Trophy inclusion.
“As a WR coach trainer and starting a master trainer journey, the secondary focus is to assist member unions where possible in building their Training & Education (T&E) portfolio.
“This includes courses and accreditations of coaches, match officials, S&C, medical and other courses in the World Rugby T&E portfolio.”
As the former FRU national development manager the past three years, Sewabu said he has been blessed to have contributed to the development of rugby here.
Sewabu is a graduate with a Diploma in Travel & Tourism, Bachelor in Sport and Exercise programme and holds an Executive Masters in Business Administration.
He is currently pursuing his Post-Grad Studies in International Sports Management online at the University of London.
Highlights of his rugby career include:
■coachi■g Naitasiri Rugby and won the Farebrother Cup in 2018
■coachi■g Fiji U20 to the Junior World Trophy in 2018 that won the championship, this gained Fiji’s promotion to the Junior World Championship.