New rugby pathway
FIJI Rugby Union chief executive officer John O'Connor announced last Thursday that the men's and women's rugby competitions would be run separately beginning this year.
"We have made a decision to have a separate competition for the men's and women's teams to ensure we treat the females fairly," he said.
In the past, the competitions were run simultaneously whereby if the men's team were relegated to either tier 1 or Tier 2 division rugby, the women would have to follow suit.
"For example in 2019, the Lautoka women's team won the Skipper Cup in their division but were demoted to the Vanua Cup due to their men's team being demoted.
"That is unfair and the reason why we want to run the competitions separately.
“This is being done to create a pathway for women in rugby."
O'Connor also added that plans are in place to expand women's rugby in Fiji.
"The Marama competition has an under-19 category but is a 10-aside competition. Plans are in place to expand the numbers next year to make it a 15s competition. There is so much growth and teams have squad numbers of up to 50 young ladies. Even though there is no under-19 category in the Ranadi Cup competition, we are adamant that come next year all divisions of women's rugby will have adequate support."
FRU operations manager Sale Sorovaki said the initiative would unearth more talented young ladies to the world stage.
"We all know Vitalina Naikore, the winger for the Fijiana Drua.
She represented the province of Macuata so she came through the Marama Cup competition," he said. "We hope to bring in some girls from the Naitasiri Bulls team or from Macuata, Bua and Ovalau. With this, we will see more girls like Naikore in the years to come," said the former Flying Fijians backline utility.
"The pathway is there for these girls and we are excited to provide a platform for them.".