FRU waits for travel sanction exemption

That is the sound of the famous "vuvuzela" in this year's World Cup Soccer currently underway in South Africa. It is causing a lot of distraction for the teams. Fiji does not have to worry about that sound as the Fiji Soccer team is not part of the World tournament.But come next year Fiji will definitely be part of the world stage when the Rugby World Cup begins. There will definitely be other distractions.The theme song of the Rugby World Cup is A World In Union. But will the Flying Fijians have the benefit to field its best team with travel sanctions hanging over the heads of some of our key and best performing players like Nikola Matawalu, Alefoso Yalayalatabua, Sireli Naqelevuki, Dale Tonawai and Leone Nakarawa. The NZ government has already said that it will decide on the visa requests of the teams on an individual basis.Earlier this month, players like Matawalu and Yalayalatabua could not travel to Canberra for the Wallabies test. Then we have the issue in relation to Fiji's vice captain and former naval officer, Sireli Naqelevuki who was denied an Australian transit visa and could not make it for Fiji's opening Pacific Nations Cup match against Japan last week. The reason given for the non issuance of the Australian transit visa, according to Fiji Manager Semi Rogoyawa, was due to his military background. But then the question arises how Naqelevuki was granted the visa to play in Australia when he was playing for the Stormers and whether the travel sanction only applied to him if he was on his way to represent Fiji. Fiji Rugby Union Chairman, Bill Gavoka said they are trying very hard to resolve these issues but there has been little success at this stage.Gavoka hopes good sense would prevail and the players do not face any travel sanctions for next year's World Cup in NZ.IRB's General Manager Oceania, William Glenwright said the International Rugby Board has a Host Union Agreement with the New Zealand Rugby Union which stipulates, that all teams that qualify for the Rugby World Cup, are able to enter the country to participate in the tournament. He told the ABC negotiations are underway.The NZ government is yet to make its policy clear for the World Cup next year and how it will affect Fiji and some of its key players.