Seven schools from Ba are playing in the 2021 Voda­fone Fiji Secondary Schools Rugby League competition for the first time.

This was confirmed by the Fiji Secondary Schools rugby league president Akuila Vute while launching the competition at the Vodafone headquarters in Tama­vua, Suva, yesterday.

“We’re happy to engage quite a lot of schools from Ba knowing that it is known for football,” Vute said.

Interests of rugby and rugby league soared in the football crazy town after Ba won the Vodafone Vanua Championship Under-19 title.

“Schools like D.A.V College Ba, Ba Methodist High School, Bala­ta, AD Patel College, Ba Sangam College, Ba Sanatan and Xavier College have joined.

“They will be represented in se­lective grades during the compe­tition,” Vute said.

“If they have proven themselves at national level in rugby union I’m sure they will be a force to be reckoned with this year.

“It’s quite difficult to intro­duce another sport compared to soccer so we thank the head of schools in supporting rugby league.

“I believe it is always an oppor­tunity for them to have sports in term one and leaving out term two and three for the kids to con­centrate on their academic pro­grammes.”

Vute said they would like to get many teams to play rugby league.

“I want to thank the Western executives who are working hard to promote the game in their di­vision.

“We have a COVID-19 protocol in place as part of our return to play conditions set by the Minis­try of Education and the teams will be following the process,” he added.

Edited by Leone Cabenatabua