Rugby: Funding cut triggers Fijian rugby's 'gravest crisis'

Fiji Head coach Ben Ryan. Photo / Getty Images

Fijian rugby is scrambling to correct the failings that have caused the International Rugby Board to turn off its funding tap - plunging the Fiji Rugby Union into what one news source has called the "gravest crisis" in its 100-year history.

At the heart of the matter is the F$3 million ($1.9 million) funding paid by the IRB to the FRU - put on a stop notice, seemingly because of government interference.

The Fijian investigative website Fijileaks says the FRU ("commandeered by Frank Bainimarama's administration in the lead-in to the 2011 Rugby World Cup") is facing its gravest crisis after the IRB suspended the FRU's annual development grant, with Bainimarama deepening the crisis by rejecting the FRU board's preferred candidate for the vacant position of chief executive officer, leaving the organisation leaderless.

A first instalment was to have been paid by the IRB on January 1 but there are reports the payment has been halted - leaving the FRU largely without funds as well as a leader. The F$3m payment is vital to the union, as it outweighs its biggest and just completed sponsorship deal with Digicel, thought to be worth F$2.5m.

One of the catalysts for the IRB action is thought to be former England sevens coach Ben Ryan, who has made a successful start coaching the Fijian sevens team (they won the Dubai tournament for the first time recently). Ryan took on the head coach job in September but is yet to be paid by the FRU. Acting FRU CEO Berlin Kafoa said Ryan had agreed to go without pay for his first few months in the role as the organisation is yet to receive funding from the government.

"Ryan volunteered for three months after being appointed as national sevens coach due to the financial situation of the FRU," Kafoa was quoted as saying by ESPN Scrum.com.

"The FRU has applied to the Fiji Sports Commission for a grant based on the 2014 budget allocation which will be used for Ryan's salary. We are still waiting for the Fiji Sports Commission to respond to our application. We as a nation should applaud a foreign individual who is willing to make personal sacrifices for the love of rugby in Fiji."

According to Fijileaks, FRU officials have admitted they will have to re-advertise the position of CEO, restarting a process that started in September.

Fijileaks claimed publisher Jeremy Duxbury had been selected as the FRU's preferred CEO but, when his name was submitted before Christmas, Bainimarama rejected it.

When the FRU chairman (and secretary of finance in the government) Filimone Waqabaca was appointed last May, an interview with the Fiji Sun appeared to make it clear he was doing the bidding of a deeply frustrated prime minister: "[Bainimarama] asked me to clean up the place and turn things around and to do my best. I suppose that would be the wish of all die-hard rugby fans in this country given the status of FRU and the performance of our national teams."

Fijileaks said: "The Bainimarama government's explicit involvement in running the FRU has been nothing short of a disaster. It dates back to January 2011 when then sports minister Filipe Bole confirmed the FRU would receive F$3m of government funding for the 2011 Rugby World Cup but only on the condition the elected board of the FRU resigned before the terms had expired and faced new elections."

Fiji had a poor World Cup, coming in for some heavy losses, including a 66-0 defeat by Wales, and seem to have gone backwards from their efforts at the 2007 World Cup.