26 teams confirmed for league tournament

TWENTY SIX teams have been confirmed for the Vodafone one-day Rugby League 7s tournament that will be held at the Suva Grammar School grounds later this month.

This was confirmed by Fiji National Rugby League Administration manager Rusiate Ratakele yesterday.

Ratakele confirmed that only 26 teams would be part taking in the tournament with Police being the only new club to enter the FNRL ranks.

Their involvement comes in the wake of their World Cup winning performance in Australia last year.

“The Police team is the only new club that has entered FNRL and they will be sending two teams,” he said.

While there have been very few people playing league fans can be assured that players that play rugby union will also be playing in the league competition especially in the off season as the Fiji Rugby Union has wiped out the Colonial Cup giving rugby union more life-time in a year.

The other teams will be provided by the 10 clubs that have already been registered with FNRL.

All clubs from the eastern and western division will be sending two teams each for the tournament except for a few.

“Kadar Buksh - Saru Dragons, Islands Electric Lautoka - Crushers and Dee Cees - Nadera Panthers are the only teams that will field three teams.”

Meanwhile, FNRL is still waiting for the International Rugby League Federation (IRLF) to open after the festive season.

“We are still waiting for the IRLF office to open sometimes this week so that we can get the rules for the 7s game,” Ratakele said.

“We need to get the rules because this is the same set of rules that will be used at the Mini Pacific Games.”

He added the selection criteria would not change and warned that players needed to be very good in three areas.

“Speed, general skills, and strong defence are the main key of rugby league and our
selection criteria will be based on that,” Ratakele said.

http://fijidailypost.com/news.php?secti ... news=21262

Fiji Bati broker UK deal

The New Year has started on a good note for the Fiji National Rugby League which is on talks for contracts in the United Kingdom.

The twist of fortunes for the once financially stricken FNRL has seen Fiji Bati now sort after by Northern Hemisphere clubs after the success of the Rugby League World Cup in Australia.

FNRL chairman Peni Musunamasi confirmed to Fijilive.com that talks were ongoing to send Fijian players to European League where Great Britain is the home of Super League competition.

“This morning that a deal with the Doncastor club in the UK slipped through. Doncastor is currently playing in the National League One championship and the initial deal to send one of our players over was negotiated by Carl Hall, the Chairman for Doncastor who was a former Fiji Bati rep in 1992,” he added.

“I received an email from Carl today and I am sad to say the deal has fallen through.”

“Doncastor wanted one player for next season and negotiations were going on well but recently we did not hear anything from Castor until this morning.”

“As far as we are concerned the only holdup was with the UK Rugby League Federation.”

He said more clubs are still interested in Fijian players.

“Another League One club in the UK, Gateshead Thunder who last year won the National League Two champions is looking for one Fiji Bati rep to join them. That deal is still under negotiation and we are keeping our fingers crossed,” Musunamasi added.

Fiji Bati players are eligible to play in the UK after they donned the national jumper at the RLWC.

Musunamasi added there were also a number of Australian clubs who had taken in Bati reps as buildup to the world cup.

“We’re looking at if they want to extend their contracts but that also depends on the parent body in Australia.”

http://www.fijilive.com/sports/rugby/ne ... 7.Fijilive

Fiji Bati starts hunt for future stars

Saturday, May 09, 2009

THE Fiji Rugby League will use the 2009 club competition, which starts today, to begin searching for players for selection into the Fiji Bati team for national duties.

Bati coach Jo Rabele said he together with the other selectors will start looking at potential players in our local competition.

Rabele said all the best local players would be called to a trial before the team is named.

The Bati will have a very busy year because they will go on a tour to Papua New Guinea to play the Kumuls in two internationals in June.

Rabele said straight after returning from Port Moresby they will head to Apia to play Samoa in one match. He will use all local players on these tours.

"We want to use our local players on the tours to give them a feel of what to expect when they go overseas. So this is a good opportunity for our local players to show what they can do without the overseas players," he said.

Rabele said it's important to have a good look at all players because they have some new clubs join the competition this year.

"We have the Police and Davuilevu clubs playing for the first time and we want to make sure we have a good look at their players before we name our players to take part in the trials," he said.

"A total of 40 players will be named after the trials but we will only take 24 for the tour."

"The16 non-travelling reserves will surely get a call up in between because we expect a lot of injury due to the tough and gruelling nature of the game."

The first test against the Kumuls will be on 28 June and the second will be on 5 July.

The test against Samoa will be held on 16 July.

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=121019

League signs three-year partnership with Sun



8/28/2009

The Fiji Sun yesterday extended its sponsorship of sport to the fast-growing game of rugby league.

Fiji National Rugby League signed a three-year partnership with the Fiji Sun, Fiji’s fastest growing newspaper.

Patron Rajesh Singh and Deputy Chairman Tomi Finau signed the deal with Fiji Sun publisher/chief executive officer Peter Lomas and marketing manager Philip Filipo at Fiji Sun headquarters, Walu Bay.

Singh said he was grateful to the Fiji Sun for the support, especially as the Fiji Sun is already helping rugby, soccer and netball.

“We are very fortunate to have you and this is timely as we prepare for the Pacific Cup competition,” Singh said.

Singh said there is lots coming up for the Fiji National Rugby League. This partnership would help build on that, he said.

Singh also said Lomas himself had a long background in sport, including with rugby league. So the Fiji National Rugby League looked forward to tapping into this as well, he said.

Lomas said the Sun wants to help the growth of sport because of its critical role in the nation.

The Fiji Sun, as Fiji’s only locally owned daily newspaper, had a special commitment to Fiji, he said.

He said the Vodafone Fiji Bati had brought pride to the nation at the last World Cup by reaching the semifinals.

Rugby league also provided an exciting career path for local players with opportunities to play professionally overseas.

Fiji players were already successful in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) and Britain’s Super League.

Lomas said it was only a matter of time before Fiji produced another Jarryd Hayne, the Fiji Bati player now one of the biggest stars of the NRL.

http://www.fijisun.com.fj/main_page/view.asp?id=25668

Just wandering around rugby league clips on You Tube and found these promotions for Fiji rugby league, from the time of the World Cup. They were clearly swept up in it over there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0W6HyJjjYs&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSubCa1KUAk