Match declared ‘friendly’

BA Rugby Union’s return to the Skipper Cup competition after 26 years started on a low note last Saturday after their opening match against Suva was declared a friendly match.

According to Fiji Rugby Union officials on the field on Saturday, the match was declared a friendly because the Ba Rugby Men’s team had donned a BLK-sponsored jersey and not the QAQA-sponsored jersey issued by FRU.

Former national 7s icon and Ba head coach Vilimoni Delasau said the reason why his side had donned the BLK jersey was because the jerseys issued by FRU did not fit his players.

“When we received the jerseys, they could not fit our boys and FRU did not respond to our emails about this issue,” he said.

Delasau said the union had spent more than $7000 to travel from Ba to Suva just to compete in what was deemed a “friendly match”.

“I believe we have been treated unfairly, and we are upset because of how much we had to spend just to come down to Suva and compete in a friendly match.”

Despite going down to defending champions Suva 29-0, Ba remains determined.

Meanwhile, Fiji Rugby Union operations manager and Skipper Cup tournament director Jiko Matawalu said Ba Rugby’s claims about not being informed of the jersey sizes was a question the union needed to ask within themselves.

Matawalu says there is an official playing kit apparel which is QAQA supplied by Jacks Fiji Ltd, where all participating teams are supplied with on-field playing kits to don during the competition.

Matawalu says after the talanoa sessions in November, 2023, all unions were allowed to choose the format of the competition for 2024, and upon receiving that, they were all requested to give their sizes by December 2023 as production was to start in January 2024.

Teams were warned by match commissioners during game day to abide by the tournament rules which the Ba under-20 side honoured, unlike their senior men’s team. He says there is a Terms of Participation that all participating teams in the four competitions Skipper Cup, ANZ Marama, Vodafone Vanua Cup, and Royal Tea Ranadi competition must abide by.

He says fair treatment is given to all participating teams, with clear communication and processes throughout the build-up to the tournament.