We are tired of your apologies - FWCC

We are tired of your apologies.

This is the message from the Fiji Women Crisis Centre after the Fiji Rugby Union made a public apology to the management of the Fiji Airways Fijiana 7s side for staying outside Sydney Airport for four hours during their travel from Fiji to Dubai.

The FWCC says this latest incident again shows the disrespect and bias against the Fijiana 7s team and has clearly shown that the FRU is not fully committed to women’s rugby.

They say every time there is an incident highlighting the gender bias, discrimination, and inequality in the sport – the Fiji Rugby Union apologises.

The Centre says there is a huge disconnect between the FRU Management and the players and team managers.

They say the Board Chair Peter Mazey claims he found out about the incident, which happened months ago, through the media, and that is unbelievable.

They are asking why there is so much silence around this from the Fijiana 7s team management.

The FWCC says player welfare, performance and safety were compromised when the Fijiana 7s players slept on benches outside the airport.

They say so many other hotels in Sydney would have had rooms available apart from those Coach Saiasi Fuli checked, and maybe the coach and the manager didn’t look or try hard enough because they just expected the players to sleep at the airport for those few hours.

FWCC also questions why couldn’t the male players be asked to give up some rooms for the women to share because they were young women.

They say in our misogynistic patriarchal society, women are generally bullied and younger women don’t often fight back, so this is how this attitude manifests itself in society.

They further say the FRU has a history of misogynistic behaviour and attitude towards female players, and it is time to change.

They add that sports is one of the settings in the National Action Plan for the Prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls, and sports is a major stakeholder in the plan.

The FWCC says the FRU needs to review existing policies and start strategizing for a national plan to promote gender equality and equity, including budgetary measures and gender accountability in consultation with the female players and other female officials and the women’s movement.

They are also calling on all Fijians to encourage and support our women’s teams when they play and also have a presence at the grounds to encourage and tell them they are just as important as the men.