The Fiji Rugby Union has denied receiving any payment from Digicel.
This follows a press statement yesterday from Digicel saying that they have released a payment of $20,000 to the Fiji players who won the Gold Coast 7s title last month.
CEO Radrodro Tabualevu said he is not aware of such a payment.
Tabualevu said neither the FRU nor any of its players will accept any payment from Digicel as it completely disrespects the relationship held between FRU and the current sponsors.
He said he would like to make it clear to the public that they have commercial agreements in place with sponsors and they respect such agreements.
Tabualevu said they are extremely disappointed that Digicel had made this comment even without a discussion with the management of FRU and they will discuss with their legal team and take appropriate action.
Meanwhile Vodafone has also raised concerns after the press release issued by Digicel.
Vodafone CEO Pradeep Lal said they have sought clarifications from FRU and no one seems to be aware of any such payments to the 7s players.
Lal said they stand by their commitment to support and lift the profile of rugby and will continue to do so through their five year partnership.
He said they have made it clear from the beginning that they are here to uplift Rugby in all forms and not merely 7’s whereby the previous sponsors sponsored only 7s and further blocked any other sponsors from contributing to other areas of rugby.
Lal said they will be exploring legal opinion on the matter as they view this as a cheap stunt to influence the view of the public and create confusion in the market which is not a surprise.
According to Lal they value all commercial agreements and will not use cheap marketing means and public stunts to influence public perception.
Former sponsor of Fiji rugby, Digicel Fiji released a statement yesterday saying that it has made a payment of $20,000 to the winning Gold Coast 7s team.
The company said it is concerned about recent coverage in the media concerning financial support for the national team.
In a statement, Digicel Fiji CEO, Darren McLean said the company wants to see that there are no unnecessary distractions and that the positive momentum continues.
McLean said he feels for these players who work so hard and put their bodies on the line for the country, bringing joy all across Fiji with their performances on the world stage.
We are currently trying to speak to McLean on who Digicel released the payment to and when the payment was made to the winning Fiji team.
Stay with us we will have more on this later today.
