Fiji Rugby has raised serious concern on why Fiji does not have a seat on the World Rugby Council.
In a statement issued by the Fiji Rugby Union titled Equality, the FRU said Argentina, Canada, Japan and Italy have one each seat on the Word Rugby Council while NZ, Australia, South Africa and Scotland have two.
The FRU said compared to Fiji - Argentina and Japan are more isolated from NZ and Australia.
Despite this Argentina and Japan have joined the Super Rugby Championship.
The FRU further said that Fiji has the national infrastructure to support international fixtures.
It said Fiji has more registered players than Canada and rugby in Fiji has been played since 1884.
We are one of the oldest rugby playing nations in the world.
It has also been highlighted that in 2007, Argentina lacked regular competitive fixtures.
The FRU said Argentina’s domestic game was amateur with a vast majority of their players plyaing their trade in Europe.
On the other hand, Fiji beat Wales in the 2007 Rugby World Cup to qualify for the quarter finals taking South Africa to the wire in a physical and competitive game.
Fiji is now hoping that it is invited to the Australian 2016 National Rugby Championship.
We have sent questions to World Rugby about the concerns raised by Fiji.
Still on World Rugby,
World Rugby CEO, Brett Gosper has controversially dismissed allegations his organisation is not doing enough to assist tier‑two nations.
Stuff.co reports that grumbles about the plight of the 10 second‑tier countries, especially the Pacific Island nations of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, have increased in the lead‑up to the World Cup in England and Wales but Gosper said those concerns are unfounded.
Former Samoan lock Daniel Leo and International Rugby Players’ Association boss Rob Nichol have been among the most vocal when calling out World Rugby on a variety of issues, including the topic of European clubs putting pressure on Pacific Islanders to make themselves unavailable for tests, compensation and allocating Samoa, Fiji and Tonga test matches on home soil.
Census Johnston, who recently joined Samoa for their World Cup campaign, has joined Leo in saying players are put under pressure by their clubs to skip the World Cup.
Gosper, speaking at a World Rugby media conference in the lead‑up to England facing Fiji in the opening World Cup match in London, boasted the tournament is set to make a profit of around 440 million dollars.
He noted World Rugby had invested 48 million dollars in the Pacific Islands over the last four years.
That included developing high performance centres, grooming specialist coaches and assisting with governance issues.
On the issue of clubs refusing to offer contracts unless Pacific Island players agree to make themselves unavailable for the World Cup, Gosper was firm in his belief that no such problem existed.
