Revenue shortfalls still biggest hurdle for Fiji Rugby Union

Not enough revenue remains one of the biggest challenges for the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU), board chair John Sanday says.

Sanday said while there had been strong accomplishments this year — including Fiji’s inclusion in the Nations Championship for the next 10 years, the union hoped to keep improving.

He said one highlight was a competitive Skipper Cup season, which saw newcomers Malolo win the title in their first year.

Other achievements included the establishment of the Fiji Rugby Players Association, the Fijiana XVs’ competitiveness at the Women’s Rugby World Cup, and the Flying Fijians’ continued development in the international Test arena.

“The challenges continue to remain around generating adequate revenues and sponsorship to properly fund our player-development pipeline and investment in critical infrastructure such as high-performance facilities to equal the giant rugby nations of the world,” Sanday said.

He said FRU was already working toward acquiring land for this purpose, with an announcement expected early in the new year once all preparatory work is completed.

Sanday said that although the year had been challenging, there had also been significant growth through long hours of meetings and deliberations.

FRU is finalising plans to begin 2025 with a detailed programme to prepare the Fijiana XVs for the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Australia.

Another challenge was Fiji being unable to host Nations Championship matches because of a lack of suitable sporting infrastructure.

Sanday told AAP that while playing at home would have been ideal, FRU accepted competition requirements because hosting games abroad would bring a substantial financial return.

“Whilst we were disappointed that we would not be able to host the game here, the economic benefits that would accrue from our home games being hosted in the UK and elsewhere outweighed every emotion that accompanied the thought of hosting it here,” he said.

Fiji joins Japan as invitational Southern Hemisphere nations in a formidable lineup that includes New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina and Six Nations sides England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.

“It’s a transformational opportunity for us — never before in our history would we be able to access this kind of revenue, which we can then invest back into our facilities and high performance,” Sanday said.

“We’re just happy that we’re part of the Nations Championship because it provides a strong runway for our preparations for the Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2027.”

Sanday said revenue from the competition would be used to upgrade training facilities at HFC Bank Stadium, where the Fijian Drua train and play. The long-term plan is to redevelop the ground to regularly host Test matches by 2030.

Before then, the world No. 8-ranked Fiji hoped to play home and away Tests against the Wallabies and Japan.

“We’re negotiating with Japan Rugby and Rugby Australia,” Sanday said.

“That’s something that would likely be after the World Cup, but there is already an arrangement for an annual home-and-away fixture with the Wallaroos.

“So we want to see if we can replicate the same for the men’s team, that conversation is ongoing.”