IRB chief executive Brett Gosper. Photo: Getty Images
IRB boss Brett Gosper has announced that Fiji’s funding will soon be resumed after it was suspended in January because of serious concerns over the Fijian board’s governance and financial control.
“We did suspend funding for Fiji, but there have been meetings recently and that suspension will soon be lifted,” Gosper said. “They’ve taken significant strides towards putting their house in order and their finances are in much better shape, not least because they’ve just agreed a big sponsorship deal.
“It’s not as if we’ve taken money away from them; it was frozen, and it was always our intention to release the funds once the necessary improvements were made.”
Fiji, however, will still not participate in the Commonwealth Games Sevens tournament. The country was suspended from the Commonwealth following a military coup in 2006 and although they are now reinstated, that came too late for them to be allowed to play in Glasgow.
- FRU
Fiji Rugby Blog 