The Prime Minister had promised a bonus of $30,000 per player if the Fiji Water Flying Fijians team won the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final.
Minister for Youth and Sports, Jese Saukuru stated this during his ministerial statement in Parliament today saying that Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka with government backing offered the team $40,000 if they won the semi-final and $50,000 for winning the final.
Saukuru says the bonuses were therefore based on the team's achievements after the Rugby World Cup.
He says the former captain and the senior players were aware of this but unfortunately still proceeded with their demands.
The Sports Minister says on the payments, the bonus was not only promised but was paid, and the sign-on fee of $30,000 has been paid.
He says the $500 daily allowance has been paid as well.
Saukuru says in addition to the agreed payments, Fiji Rugby, Fiji Government and World Rugby paid all expenses for the Flying Fijians for their preparation and for their participation in the World Cup.
The Sports Minister says all travel to, from and during camp, international air travel, accommodation and meals, all playing and training gear and incidentals also was budgeted for by Fiji Rugby, World Rugby and Government.
He says on Waisea Nayacalevu's claims, the difficulty of course is in the original statement where he stated that the issues existed between Rugby House and the players going back 10 years.
Saukuru says questions had been raised on unpaid money as far back as 1987 and 2007 and 2019.
He says the current trustees have only been there a year and regrettably it will be a challenge to investigate every claim if records are not available.
The Minister says there appears to have been a lot of frustration among the players and sadly the trustees currently at the Rugby House are taking the brunt of it.
The Fiji Rugby Union trustees have promised to investigate the players' claims, and as such engaged Ioane Naiveli and Company Chartered Accountants to review each of the 43 players' contracts, payment disbursements as well as the timing of payments.
While speaking on the Fiji Rugby Union, Minister for Sports, Jese Saukuru says this exercise is currently in progress, and the first report should be received later this week.
Saukuru confirms that the 43 players engaged in 2023 for the Rugby World Cup have been given a schedule of payments that disclose the funds disbursed to their respective bank accounts during the period 1st July 2023 to 15th October 2023, and the players have been requested to confirm and cross-check with their bank to confirm that the payments have been deposited into their respective accounts.
Once these player disbursements have been addressed and the final report from the chartered accountants has been received, the trustees will publicly release the findings of the review.
FRU says the trustees are committed to settle any shortfalls in payment to any player during the period mentioned.
It was also revealed that Fiji Rugby was in trouble last year as it had substantial debts owing over $6.8 million and assets of only $3 million.
The Minister says the FRU has cleared majority of their debt.
Saukuru also commended the trustees of Fiji Rugby for the work they do, and he stresses that they should be thanked for all they have achieved as not one of them has received any remuneration for the over 80 meetings they have held in the last 14 months, all in an effort to get rugby on the right track.
He says the trustees have restructured the operations, and after meetings with every union, the new structure has been accepted, and a new professional business model under a company limited by guarantee was approved by all the unions to take over the operations of rugby in Fiji.
Last week, the first round of voting by the union's Special Nominations Committee was elected.
This professional committee will now be responsible to vet and approve all nominations for the new board of directors to be elected at the AGM on 9th November 2024.
Saukuru says the players have got their wish, thanks to the unions themselves, electing to be a professional business.
He says the trustees and unions, by restructuring and approving the new constitution and operations, have satisfied the concerns of World Rugby.
Saukuru says Fiji Rugby is readmitted to the World Rugby Council, and only last week the CEO of Fiji Rugby was in Dublin at the World Rugby headquarters representing Fiji at meetings held.
He also clarifies that one change that was demanded by both World Rugby and the International Olympic Organization was that all voting members of any board of a national sports organization has to be elected by the members of that sport, and as such, this meant that the previous mandated position given to the Prime Minister's board nominee could not be appointed to Fiji Rugby board.
However, he says there is a course of action that can be taken by the directors to invite a government representative to sit on the board.
Saukuru says if any Member of Parliament wishes to sit on the national sports board, they can, but they must be elected.
He confirms that Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection, Lynda Tabuya is a current member of Fiji Rugby Women's Board.
Opposition MP, Rinesh Sharma says only a few months back, the Fiji women's sevens team slept on the benches outside Sydney Airport while the men's sevens team slept in a hostel.
He says the question is who was sleeping on the job that caused our players to sleep outside on the benches.
Sharma adds many people are asking, is this the way we are empowering the aspiring youths of Fiji for a career in rugby just so that they can sleep on benches at international airports.
He says all this requires a proper investigation and audit.
Sharma says there are also calls for a player association to be set up to protect the players.
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