Keep dirty politics out of the Fiji Rugby Annual General Meeting

Let’s keep dirty politics out of this Saturday’s Fiji Rugby Union’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Tanoa Waterfront in Lautoka. Good sense must prevail. Rugby should be the winner at the end of the day.

Former and current FRU board of directors and management were and continue to be committed to implement new structures and governance pathways that are compliant with the requirements of World Rugby.

One of FRU’s biggest achievements was securing a seat at the World Rugby Council in 2019. This was after playing the sport for over 100 years.

Earlier in 2017 was the formation of the Fijian Drua that participated in the Australian National Rugby Championship (NRC) and won the title the following year.

At the end of 2021, the Drua was awarded the license to play in the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Drua franchise, today, is 51 per cent owned by the Government and FRU has a 49 per cent stake. This allowed our local-based players to play in a professional competition - regarded as one of the best in the world.

The ripple effect had also been felt in the tourism industry, with local entrepreneurs benefiting every time we host a Super Rugby match.

In sevens rugby, our men has won the gold medal at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. Today, they are Sevens Rugby World Cup champions.

For our women, they now have their local competitions. This was further boosted when the Fijiana Drua was allowed in the Australia’s Super W competition last year where they came out victors.

Also, later that year, our Fijiana XVs participated in its first Women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Our national women’s rugby sevens team won the bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.

Like any other organisations, there is always room for improvements. There is no such thing as a perfect institution - the context of its operations continue to evolve.

There are always ways of doing things better especially when it comes to taking the sport to a higher level.

There have been many unfounded accusations about the FRU and its finances posted on the social media recently. Perhaps the right forum to clear the air on this is at the AGM.

We all love our rugby but at the same time we should exercise maturity when voicing our opinions on how the sport should be run with the protection of our rugby institution to be most paramount.

Of course there will be opportunists and power hungry individuals who are basically trying to get in for their survival. They should be avoided at all cost. Union delegates are encouraged to speak out, ask the hard questions or call for clarifications on any issue at the AGM. This is the right way to do things. Only ideas and motions that enhance the status of rugby in Fiji and the world must be heard.

Good sense must prevail.