THE Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) has an official bar after signing an agreement with popular local Suva watering hole - O'Reilly's Bar. The agreement was signed on December 13, 2011 at a media conference between the owner of O'Reily's Bar Liam Hindle and former FRU chief executive officer Keni Dakuidreketi.
"Well O'Reilly's has always really been a de facto rugby bar. Every time any team is visiting they usually end up in O'Reilly's," Hindle said. "So now it's great to get together with the Fiji Rugby Union and become a sponsor for them and to officially make O'Reilly's the official bar of the Fiji Rugby Union."
Dakuidreketi applauded O'Reilly's commitment to the FRU particularly as the FRU often struggled to find venues to host visiting teams.
"We really don't have much by way of value to direct visiting teams to a socializing venue so we hope that having an association like this we at least know we can head off somewhere and be welcomed after matches, particularly when you have visiting teams in this country," Dakuidreketi said.
Hindle revealed O'Reilly's association with the FRU includes a monthly sponsorship allowance to Fiji Rugby for entertaining important guests or hosting official functions.
"If there's any entertainment to be done by FRU then there is a monthly sponsorship allowance that can be made use of for entertaining guests and visiting teams." The O'Reilly's-FRU sponsorship runs for a period of one year.