FRU saga has greater repercussions than we think
And there we have it. The mind-boggling situation at Fiji Rugby Union behind closed doors once known only to the powers that be and the influential in the rugby space is finally out in the open.
It’s no longer a secret and we can confidently say that Rugby House, registered as a charistable trust, is in a mess and a big one at that.
The fact that it took the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Siromi Turaga to exercise his powers, as the minister responsible, to step in and re-look at the overall governance and operations of Rugby House, is a clear indication of this status.
As a result, the Annual General Meeting scheduled tomorrow in Lautoka has been deferred. Soon, Mr Turaga is expected to make some big announcements - including the appointment of interim Trustees of the FRU and also the appointment of an interim administrator.
In a statement yesterday, Mr Turaga asked the current FRU board to resign. Last night, after Fiji Sun reached out to some members, it appeared that it was now divided into two factions - one for the former Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, and the other in favour of Sitiveni Rabuka’s.
While we await the minister’s annoucement, this saga at Gordon Street has already reached the global governing body of rugby unions, the World Rugby, through its Council member, Cathy Wong.
The process of cleaning up Rugby House may be constitutional, but the repercussion of this revelation is far greater and therein lies the problem. World Rugby stepping in as a more powerful force has far-reaching implications than the issue at home. As indicated by our managing editor - Sports, Leone Cabenatabua, on our front page today, World Rugby is an independent body and for politics to come into the equation is a big no-no. This is often easier said than done.
An example of what World Rugby is capable of doing was seen in 2017 when the then Papua New Guinea Sports Minister Justin Tkatchenko received a stern warning from it saying to keep politics out of the picture.
In essence, it is agreed that there must be a government representative on the FRU board - but that representative is just there to oversee that the union has its house in order and not to hold a position of power.
It isn’t supposed to control the internal operations of the union.
It’s no wonder the controversies of the union were kept under wraps.
For now, while a rugby-crazy country awaits the announcement, the powers that be may as well wait for a stern warning from World Rugby to decide on its fate that is already hanging by a thread.
The process of cleaning up Rugby House may be constitutional, but the repercussion of this revelation is far greater and therein lies the problem. World Rugby stepping in as a more powerful force has far-reaching implications than the issue at home.