Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says former Fiji Water Flying Fijians captain Waisea Nayacalevu’s statements have brought to light deeper issues that need urgent attention.
Rabuka says he has been made aware of the ongoing administrative challenges within the Fiji Rugby Union, after Nayacalevu raised concerns about corruption and poor management in an interview with the Daily Mail UK.
He says when those things came to him, he knew there was some maladministration continuing at the FRU.
The Prime Minister says while it is the FRU’s responsibility to manage their own affairs, his priority has always been to support our Flying Fijians.
He says when the team threatened to boycott last year’s Rugby World Cup quarterfinal match, he told the then interim administrator Simione Valenitabua, to let the team train, and the government will send the money.
He says our national team deserves nothing less than our full backing.
The Prime Minister says at the last meeting, when the FRU finally decided that the government will have no role in the running of the FRU, he said, okay, it is their organization, they deal with it as they see fit.
He says the 26 member unions voted in favour of a new structural change during the Special General Meeting at the Novotel Hotel Convention Centre.
Rabuka says this new structural change includes unions will nominate and vote for who they want in each position.
He says there will no longer be a government or Prime Minister’s nominee, nor a World Rugby appointee; it will be solely Fiji Rugby, where the union members will vote.
