Fiji ring-fence war chest for Rugby World Cup
Fiji rugby chiefs have revealed they have ring-fenced a budget of £3.8m (Fiji$11m) to help the Flying Fijians make an impact at the Rugby World Cup in France despite the union facing worrying debts.
An investigation into the Union’s financial troubles has seen debts of £1.2 million (Fiji $ 3.5m) uncovered, however, FRU board of trustees chairperson Peter Mazey told the Fiji Times, head coach Simon Raiwalui and his players had not been impacted as they prepare to face England on Saturday in their final warm-up game.
Fiji’s unbeaten Pacific Nations Cup campaign and their training camp in France before they lost to the World Cup hosts last weekend and the RWC tournament were all included in the budget. Fiji are in the same pool as Wales, Australia, Georgia and Portugal at the World Cup.
Before their warm-up victories, the FRU increased the daily payment to each player to £172 ($500), and despite this boost, the players can only dream about the kind of money England’s squad members players receive with a match fee of £23,000 per player boosting their bank balances.
Mazey said: “The support from the trustees has been considerable and one of the first meeting we held in May was with Simon, and to learn of the challenges he had at that late stage.
“However, working together we were not only able to ensure he had the technical team he wanted, but more importantly to put together a budget for the whole campaign, and then to ensure that the funding for it was arranged before they left Fiji.
“A total budget of approximately $11 million for the whole campaign. “It was not an easy task but with this in place, Simon could do his job without that worry and over the past few weeks we have seen the results of a well-planned and funded campaign.
“Everyone knows the problem we face at Rugby House with long outstanding debts but the funding for all our campaigns this year has been kept separate and we are extremely grateful to our major sponsors especially of the Flying Fijians being FIJI Water, but also to the others that have come on board including Fiji Airways and World Rugby, but most importantly also to Government for their ongoing support and grant.”
FIJI Water have helped the FRU by agreeing to a sponsorship deal worth £1.36m (Fijian$3.8 m) to support the team in France.
Mazey praised the commitment and effort of Raiwalui, his coaches and the team despite the loss to hosts France. “Having just witnessed the game against France, I cannot be so impressed with the development and achievements of our FIJI Water Flying Fijians, they have made us proud every step of the way. We must thank them all for the incredible effort they have all made, their fitness and performance is to be admired and each game gets better.
“Simon has put together a great team in his coaching and technical official’s team and they deserve a lot of thanks for their commitment to Fiji. I can’t wait until we meet England now and can’t wait until they peak at the World Cup.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to comments