The eight teams participating in this year’s Skipper Fiji Rugby Championship will be given a grant of $50,000 to help in the development of their clubs.

Fiji Rugby Union Chief Executive John O’Connor says each teams will also be given a starter kit to help them prepare for the 2019 Skipper Cup competition.

O’Connor says the grant is mainly targeted at professionalizing domestic rugby clubs.

“As part of the sponsorship by CJ Patel, we’ll be giving the Under-19 and the senior teams 20 rugby balls and on top of that we will be giving them a grant of $50K which will be distributed to the contracting of Manager, Coaches and to the 25 players.”

Meanwhile, the winner of the main competition wins $30,000 with the runner up getting $15,000.

The champion of the Under 19 division walks away with $5,000 and the runner up prize is $2,000.

The final of the competition is scheduled for 22nd of June.

The competition kicks off today.