[Source: File Photo]

The Fiji Rugby Union have seven months to get its house in order.

World Rugby says a review of FRU’s position will be conducted in January.

The sports world governing body released a statement outlining what needs to be done from now until January 2024.

Fiji has not been suspended as a member of World Rugby, but they have lost its voice as a member of the Council while a tri-partite governance restoration roadmap is implemented.

In line with good governance practice, at its Annual Meeting on Thursday, the World Rugby Council, following a recommendation by its Executive Board, took the decision to suspend the FRU from the international federation’s Council while the robust recovery roadmap is implemented.

World Rugby, together with the Fiji Rugby Union, the Government and FASANOC have set out a collaborative roadmap to ensure short-term stability, and continuity of current programmes and protect future preparations for major events, while the wider governance topics are addressed on a long-term basis.

The FRU Administrator Simione Valenitabua and World Rugby engaged in urgent meetings with stakeholders to better understand the issues and how best to support Fiji following the recent challenges which led to the cancellation of the Annual General Meeting and the voluntary resignation of the Board.

Following discussions, the resulting roadmap, endorsed by the World Rugby Council and Executive Board, outlines three pillars to restore stability and ringfence the FRU’s participation in rugby’s international competitions:

These includes ensuring stability and continued success of the international teams’ programmes through the High Performance and Development.

Also one of the pillars is to ensure governance challenges are resolved with ultimate aim of appointment of duly elected representatives from within the Fiji Rugby structures and adoption of clear constitutional/corporate framework.

The other is to ensure effective day-to-day administration of FRU.

In a statement, World Rugby says each pillar has been assigned clear leadership, roles and responsibilities and the overall oversight of the roadmap’s implementation have been granted to Dr Robin Mitchell the Oceania National Olympic Committees President and Cathy Wong who is the Vice-President of FASANOC.

A review of the position will be conducted in seven months.

During this interim period, the FRU will remain a member of World Rugby subject to compliance with conditions set out within shared roadmap developed by the international federation, the FRU, the Government of Fiji and FASANOC.

This interim solution will allow the FRU to continue its participation in World Rugby tournaments while protecting high-performance programmes for Fiji men’s and women’s 15s and sevens programmes.

It also ensures that Fiji’s international teams can prepare as normal for the upcoming Rugby World Cup 2023 in France and qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

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