The chief executive officer of the Fiji Rugby Union, John O’Connor, has confirmed the introduction of a separate women’s competition next year to promote and enhance the sport among females in the country.
O’Connor said the concept would come to life sooner than expected.
“We’re planning to run a separate competition for the women,” he said.
“There’d be two tiers.”
Women’s rugby in Fiji has experienced an unprecedented growth after the Fijiana 7s team’s bronze medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“It’s about giving an opportunity to more young women into playing rugby so that the depth chart has a quality number of skilled and talented women ruggers.
“The FRU believes it is vital to offer an equal playing field for women to get involved at all levels of the game.
“We know that the development of women’s rugby in Fiji will allow the sport to grow in the next decade.
“Our vision is to have a more equitable game for all the genders.”
He said negotiations between prospective corporate organisations to sponsor both the competitions were ongoing.
“In terms of the sponsors we are talking to, they want maximum mileage of their different branding and the games to be broadcast live, so the plan is to possibly have the main matches on Friday afternoon or the same evenings.
“The availability of grounds is another issue that we have to consider.
We are looking for two different sponsors for both the categories.”
The top-tier Fiji Rugby Marama Championship would feature eight provincial women’s rugby teams while the second division would be the Fiji Rugby Ranadi Cup.
It is envisaged that the competitions would be similar in format to the premier local provincial men’s rugby competitions being the Skipper Cup and the second tier Vanua Cup respectively.
Meanwhile, the competition is expected to officially kick off on March 18, next year.
