“Winners in rugby and beyond” says FRU Chief Executive

Now six (6) months on the job FRU CEO Mr Radrodro Tabualevu says the drive and focus (for the FRU) is to be “Winners in Rugby and Beyond”.

“This is the caveat and it encompasses what the rugby fraternity needs to be working towards,” Mr Tabualevu said.

While aligning the administrative issues and the working relationships with our stakeholders are a priority; what we are equally working on is building the quality of players who are on the pathway to eventually gaining a spot on our national teams.
“The quality-players Fiji produces is the final output and the performance indicator of all our collective efforts; this being Rugby House the provincial unions, local clubs, rugby sponsors, the community, and our families and friends as it were,” Mr Tabualevu emphasized.

He said he has come to the conclusion that “quality” and “complete” players will guarantee wins for Fiji. “To a significant extent Fiji Rugby is responsible for the joy behind Fiji’s smiles”, he explained.

His said the four (4) strategic areas the FRU and rugby fraternity will work simultaneously on are (a)  being player centric to ensure “complete players” (b)  strong and aligned system and procedures e.g competitions (c) financial independence and (d) good governance.

“Our other signature activities are Rugby World Cup in September this year and the Rio Games next year,” he added.

“Quality” and “Complete” Players

This (the 4 strategic areas) he said will ensure we produce “complete players”. “We want to develop “mind, body and spirit” so our players are consistent on and off the field. We also want to build character in our boys (and our girls) that secures them a future beyond the rugby field.

“These are the fundamentals our product owners (Coaches and Managers) will work with at the elite level and we are working towards the same concept and approach with our respective unions; given their roles as feeders into our rugby development pathway,” Mr Tabualevu said.

The FRU will reinvigorate the Rugby Academy to have oversight of the player pathway. “We are working on establishing a player database; which will start at Kaji Rugby and one which will also track the player’s academic development to list a few,” Mr Tabualevu mentioned.

Strong and aligned rugby system and procedures

“This aligned system is heavily dependent on our stakeholders in particular the Unions who groom and develop our players,” Mr Tabualevu explained.

He said stronger competition at club and provincial levels needs to be prioritized so there are quality teams coming through our system and quality competitions played.

“We will work with our member unions to ensure we shorten the gap between our scores. We can’t have a repeat of the huge numbers we saw last year,” he said.

FRU is working closely with the Primary Schools and Secondary Schools to align the Kaji and Dean’s competition to the overall goals it has set.

He said women’s rugby has continued to make in-roads and the performance of the Telecom Fijiana team has really lifted the profile of the game. The engagement of a Women’s Rugby Development Officer will see bigger and better things to come.

Plans are also underway to take the “Get into Rugby” (GIR) program into the provinces and clubs.

Work is also underway to review all the domestic competitions. “These competitions need to be aligned to our goal of producing quality players and at the same time need be cost effective and commercially viable for the FRU as well as the allocated sponsor,” Mr Tabualevu said.

He said 2015 will also see a major boost in the response to the monthly FRU rugby development courses.

Financial Independence

Crucial to this new FRU journey is the financial-position and eventually financial-independence of the organization.

“Financial independence is imperative at both the FRU and Union level,” Mr Tabualevu emphasized.

The current source of funds is through gate takings, IRB Grants, Government Grants, Sponsorship and Merchandising.

This week FRU celebrates the one year anniversary of its consortium sponsorship program and we are grateful to companies like Vodafone Fiji, Fiji Airways, HFC Bank, Telecom and CJ Patel for leading by example. We also acknowledge partners like Coca Cola, Fiji Water, Gilbert, and S.Nagindas who have joined our sponsorship program.

“While we traditionally rely on our current sources of funds we also want to build a culture of self sustainability and financial ownership.

“We want to move away from the “request and hand-out” mentality to exploring alternative sources of funding; let’s perhaps cultivate land and look for source markets for our produce.

“We’ve been reliably informed that one union member has taken the initiative to grow watermelons with the potential to find a market for their produce,” Mr Tabualevu added.

Governance

“The FRU has been put under the spotlight over this issue but I can confidently say that our board has made a significant impact in addressing the governance gaps they inherited since their appointment in April 2013,” Mr Tabualevu explained.

He said the lift in FRU’s governance standing is depended on the alignment of its current constitution, the auditing of its accounts, convening the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and ensuring that FRU competition details are water-tight and are communicated well in advance to all its stakeholders.