FWCC boosts Coral Coast 7s tournament
THE 2023 McDonald’s Fiji’s Coral Coast Sevens tournament has been boosted with a $15,000 cash sponsorship by the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre.
The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and McDonald’s Fiji’s Coral Coast Sevens announced that they had entered into an innovative and strategic partnership that would help grow women’s rugby, promote gender equality, helping to eliminate violence against women and girls and set the standard for team participation agreements for local sporting tournaments.
As part of the memorandum of agreement, the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre has the naming rights for the inaugural Women’s Player of the Tournament award, which is named after an inspirational and iconic figure of the women’s game, Rusila Nagasau.
The FWCC Rusila Nagasau medal will be awarded to the Women’s Player of the Tournament and joins the men’s player of the tournament, the Sigatoka River Safari CampeseSerevi medal.
FWCC have also, through their financial support enabled prize money parity by subsidising the women’s team entry fees, which will see parity with the men’s division and finally, the tournament’s referees will be ensuring a “level playing field for all” when they officiate over the 3 days, wearing FWCC branded uniforms that will feature a message of “Giving Violence against Women the Red Card”.
“We are proud to partner with McDonald’s Fiji’s Coral Coast Sevens as they have set the standard for team participation agreements as far as local rugby tournaments are concerned,” said Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre coordinator Shamima Ali.
“The agreement ensures that, in line with their naming rights sponsorship obligations and requirements, the tournament will not permit any player currently serving a custodial sentence to be eligible for participation at the tournament. We look forward to effectively and meaningfully working with the organisers and also work on developing male players as allies.”
Founding chairman Jay Whyte stated that “the tournament is thrilled to welcome the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre as a key sponsor for the 2023 tournament and thank Ali and her team for their tremendous support.
The inclusion of the FWCC Rusila Nagasau Medal is a fitting tribute to a wonderful women’s ambassador who has served Fiji with distinction. The prize money parity is fantastic to help grow the interest and participation of women in the 7s game and our shared desire to “Give Violence against Women the Red Card” is a great campaign to highlight that rugby protects its women on the field and we want our friends and families to protect them at home”.
The 11th annual McDonald’s Fiji’s Coral Coast Sevens kicks off on the January 12 at Lawaqa Park, Sigatoka and will feature 16 men’s teams, 12 women’s teams and 16 youth teams.