Page 29 - IB January 2024

Sports

FIGHTING THEIR WAY TO THE

TOP OF THE RUGBY WORLD

By Alipate Pareti the public, as well as private entities, who pushed for the
women’s team to be heard.
Concerns about the need to create more opportunities to Also part of the Film Festival panel was former Fijiana
involve women in the administration of rugby in the Pacific prop, Leilanie Burnes, who captained the Fijiana side in
Islands and provide a better support system to develop a safe 2019 to secure its first-ever qualification for the Rugby World
and professional environment for the women’s game, have Cup. “What needs to be improved upon is what is done off
come out of a series of public discussions in Fiji over the past the field,” said Burnes. We need to be able to provide an
three months. environment and a culture that attracts women to be able to
Three years after former Samoan player, Daniel step up into these positions and an environment for them to
Leo, exposed corruption in his national union with the be able to succeed.”
documentary, Oceans Apart: Greed, Betrayal and Pacific Rounding up the film festival discussion, Daniel Leo urged
Island Rugby, he featured prominently in one of the Pacific Island nations who are facing similar challenges in the
discussions alongside a screening of his documentary at the sport, to be part of the answer and speak out for themselves.
Pacific Community’s (SPC) third human rights film festival in “We’ve got a voice. God has blessed us with platforms,
Suva in November. through rugby, to be able to address things we need to
The festival featured among other topics, discussions on change. Let’s be a beacon of light to help transform our
Pacific and Fijian rugby, cultural issues around motherhood islands and there’s no reason why we can’t do it.”
and infertility, climate threat, refugeeism, gender-based The panel heard that the women’s game is the fastest
violence, Pacific intergenerational trauma, and the power growing sport in the South Pacific and has had around 37%
of the arts and especially filmmaking to break these cycles. growth in participation compared to 26% growth in the men’s
Women’s and children’s rights were consistent themes. game. The key has been proper administration and more
Among the topics that the discussion brought to the fore, women’s participation in decision making roles previously held
Leo’s fellow panelists spoke about how much women’s by men.
rugby has evolved in Fiji and that it has taken a historical Speaking at a Citizen’s Constitutional Forum discussion
Olympic bronze medal in 2019, first-time Rugby World Cup panel in December, Oceania Rugby representative to World
qualification, and back-to-back Super W Championships (held Rugby, Cathy Wong pointed out that prior to 2018, World
in Australia) to eventually turn heads in the rugby fraternity Rugby was a male-dominated board.
and prove that women can also play rugby. “Not a single woman on the board. Constitutional changes
Said Elena McDonald, one of the first women to play rugby and reforms were made by President Bill Beaumont which
in Fiji: “It started way back in the 90s when there were just allowed for women to sit on the highest table of the council.
two clubs (University of the South Pacific and Queen Victoria Today, about 30% of the board are women,” said Wong.
School women) to play 7s rugby, and then 10s and later 15s “So, when we start at the top, it transpires downwards.
teams. It’s [taken] close to 30-35 years for us to get where In the Pacific, we tend to start from the bottom and try
we are today. This is huge where we are at now. It is massive and build up, and that can be very difficult because we are
and I’m proud of it.” fighting against the tide. We need to be in that room. We
However, some barriers and stigma surrounding women in need to get to the top table and then work our way down.”
rugby still exist and more needs to be done to address the Wong cited World Rugby’s expectations of the Fiji Rugby
gender disparity. Union, as an example.
“There’s always challenges in getting participation,” said “From World Rugby’s perspective, having women at the top
another Film Festival panelist, former Fijiana flanker, Mere table means we must have women on the Fiji Rugby Union
Moto. (FRU) board. Having one out of eight board members is not
“While we got the bronze medal and it sort of got enough. Australia and New Zealand have four women board
everybody wanting their daughters, their nieces to play rugby, members but unfortunately, in Oceania, all our 17 member
there’s still a lot of reservations in the Fijian culture. There unions have only one woman board member.”
are people that are still saying that this is not the space. This World Rugby’s target is to increase that to 30% of female
is not a sport that girls and women should be taking [up].” representation, not by quota but by qualification and merit.
In June last year, Fiji Rugby was under the spotlight over “We have grown so much to where we are now. We now
the outcry by the national’s 15s women’s team (led by have women sitting in various positions, not only on the
their captain, Sereima Leweniqila) about the lack of proper board but in other leadership positions too. Now we also have
treatment and non-payment of wages. The team eventually women who actually play rugby for a job and women who
got their dues following a groundswell of support from administer rugby. We also had our first female referee [from

Islands Business, January 2024 29