Police to investigate death of U17 player

Police will investigate the death of an under 17 player of Ratu Sukuna Memorial School last Friday following injuries he received during rugby training.

Director CID Vakacegu Toduadua said that since the player was injured they will conduct a post mortem and decide on their next step. 

 

The Ratu Sukuna Memorial School under 17 grade wore black arms bands in memory of a teammate who passed away on Friday after being injured during rugby training.

RSMS beat Marist Brothers High 19-5 in the under 17 southern zone final.

According to Ratu Sukuna Memmorial Principal Lepani Bataba, Jovilisi Qoroia passed away Friday early morning around two. 

Bataba said that the team was informed about the news just minutes away from their match against Marist which motivated them to the win.

Last month, it had been highlighted that for the first six months of this year, there have been cases of catastrophic injuries to six rugby players - four are secondary school students.

They are aged between 14 to 19 years with the youngest injured player aged 14 - while two players are from club level competition. 

They have suffered serious spinal or head injuries. 

There have also been two deaths at club rugby level this year. 

 

One was in Lautoka while the other was in Labasa. 

The cause of these two deaths is not known.      

 

Fiji Rugby Union’s Chairperson of Sports Science and Sports Medicine Commission, Cathy Wong said that with the number of spinal and head injuries increasing, the red flag has gone up for the medical professionals to do something urgently.