Sponsoring the Fijiana Drua was unconditional
Rooster Chicken’s coming on board to sponsor the Fijiana Drua side was unconditional. The Fijiana Drua caused ripples in their debut Super W outing winning all their matches through to the finals where they beat four-time title holders Warratahs 32-16 at the Melbourne AAMI Park on April 30.
Future Farms Private Limited (trading as Rooster Poultry) chief executive officer Stanley Raniga said: “The sponsorship was unconditional. We wanted the team to do their best which they did.”
“There were no risks in our minds as we did not foresee any. Part of breaking the bias is to not even consider for a moment that sponsoring the women is risker that sponsoring the men. We are very proud sponsors of the Fijiana Drua.”
It was no easy journey for the Fijiana to get there and take part; they initially got there after getting through all the hoops.
Rooster Chicken took the opportunity to be the first to team.
Their sponsoring the Fijiana Drua again in the coming season is now under consideration.
“We embraced the opportunity to support our women, we were excited with the announcement that Fiji will have a team in the women Super Rugby,” he said.
While hesitating to disclose the monetary value of the sponsorship, Raniga says his company strongly believes in equal opportunity and women empowerment.
Since 2016, 58 per cent of the graduates hired by FFPL on merit are females; 85 per cent of these women are now in leadership with the company.
At the moment their sponsoring the Fijiana Drua, in the next Super W round is under consideration.
For Raniga a strong rugby fan, he flew with his wife Catherine Raju to Melbourne to watch the Super W final.
The day before that he joined Fiji Rugby Union chairman Humphrey Tawake to present the Fijiana Drua(s) their jerseys and caps prior to the final.
Following their successful outing, Rooster Chicken once again came on board to sponsor the Fijianas in the women’s Tri-Series with the Wallaroos and Japan.
The Rooster Chicken Fijiana lost to Japan 14-28 at the Bond University Oval in Australia, last Sunday.
Discipline became an issue during the game as Japan scored two tries to level the scores 14-all at the break.
Fijiana gave away multiple penalties in the second half which led to a yellow card and Japan being awarded a penalty try.
Japan used their set-piece effectively to score a team try from a rolling-maul minutes before the final whistle.
Fijiana will now face the Wallaroos at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane at 7pm on Friday.