Comments: Timing On Gollings’ Dismissal Suspicious

Was the decision made to terminate the con­tract of Fiji Airways men’s rugby sevens coach Ben Gollings in any way influenced by Government?

It was on Monday during the opening of Parliament that Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said Govern­ment would call a meeting if the Fiji Rugby Union failed to hold one.

Rabuka’s comment was directed at the national rugby sevens team’s failure to win one of the past 19 tournaments of the HSBC SVNS Series.

The PM also pointed out that rugby is crucial to the country and the national team’s performance has raised a lot of questions since the national sevens rugby coach is being paid by Government through the coaching grant allocated to the Fiji National Sports Commission.

“They (FRU) have not called for a meeting, if they do not call in the next few days we will call, Govern­ment will call,” Rabuka said.

Three days later - on Thursday night- the FRU in­terim administrator and trustees made the decision to drop the axe on Gollings.

The timing of what transpired and the postings by the Attorney-General Siromi Turaga on his official Facebook page- where he shared a post by a group consisting of former national sevens rugby reps call­ing for the appointment of Osea Kolinisau as the na­tional rugby sevens coach, raised a lot of suspicion.

This could be deemed as political interference, and it could be disastrous for us.

Under, its by-laws World Rugby has zero tolerance for political interference and could suspend our participation in regional and international tourna­ments.

In May 17, last year, Sri Lanka Rugby, breached the World Rugby by-laws relating to political interfer­ence. This saw the World Rugby Council suspending Sri Lanka Rugby from World Rugby membership with immediate effect.

This could happen to Fiji Rugby, if Government continues to interfere.

Already, we’re one foot into trouble since we’ve been suspended from the World Rugby Council, after last year’s turmoil where the affiliated member unions elected board of directors at FRU were told to step down.

This has led to a reduction in funding.

The next few days, will be interesting as we’re yet to see Gollings’ reaction to the termination and also something from the newly appointed head Osea Ko­linisau.

But moreover, all focus will be on World Rugby and how it analyses the whole saga surrounding Goll­ings’ termination.

On what happens next is anybody’s guess but as of now it’s best to expect the worst and hope for the best.

God help Fiji Rugby..

Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj