FRU Reveals Details of Fiji for 7s Bid Submitted to World Rugby

At the Annual Fiji Rugby Union Awards Gala Dinner tonight the Honourable Josaia Voreque Bainimarama, Prime Minister and President of Fiji Rugby Union announced details of Fiji Rugby Union’s bid to World Rugby to host a leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

“When I announced, at the dinner held on 11 August last year to celebrate the anniversary of our Fiji Sevens Team’s historic gold medal at the Rio Olympics, that Fiji Rugby would be bidding for a leg of the HSBC Sevens Series I said we would pull out all stops to do whatever is required to build the infrastructure to host the event”, the Prime Minister said. “Since that time FRU and its consultants have worked tirelessly to present in preparing our proposal.”

FRU’s bid outlines plans to mount a unique and successful leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, and demonstrates clearly that Fiji is ready and able to take its place on the HSBC circuit.

The key elements of the FRU bid proposal are:

• An October window as the preferred time of year for a Tournament in Fiji, just after Fiji Day, after the peak Australian and New Zealand school holidays, and at a time of year where Tourism Fiji actively seeks inbound visitation. Hence, the first Tournament could be as early as October 2019.
• FRU is bidding for a combined Men’s and Women’s tournament.
• FRU is prepared to host either a standalone event in Fiji or to twin with another Host Union, and has proposed that its Tournament leg be the opening event of the HSBC Series each year putting Fiji, as the spiritual home of Sevens, firmly in the spotlight.
• The bid is based on hosting the event in Nadi, accessing the glorious Denarau hotels and facilities, capitalising on the short distances between airports, hotels, match and training venues to make the Fiji leg a genuinely unique event from a player experience perspective.
• The transformation of Prince Charles Park into a rugby amphitheatre, FRU’s Field of Dreams, where a temporary infrastructure will deliver a 20,000 capacity venue.

FRU Chairman Commander Francis Kean said, “We have left no stone unturned in the preparation of our bid and believe we have, with the leaders of our bid team Brian Thorburn and Greg Peters, put together a very credible, compelling proposal.” He went on to say “this event provides a unique opportunity for Fiji Rugby that will have long-term legacy benefits, not only for rugby, but for the country as a whole. We estimate the overall economic benefit of a Tournament in Fiji to be $50m per annum. We intend to involve the rugby family in the delivery of the event through utilising a large number of volunteers to fulfil a number of key roles required to bring this Tournament to life. The proposed developments to Prince Charles Park will result in 20,000 capacity but, to coin a phrase, we believe we will in reality deliver a “stadium of 1m” proud Fijians, with the whole country behind the event”.

FRU Chief Executive Officer, John O’Connor added “Our bid was lodged with World Rugby on 28 February and we have already hosted two visits from World Rugby personnel with respect to the details of our proposal. Whilst we believe we have ticked all the boxes, there is much work to be completed to deliver the infrastructure. We are not waiting for World Rugby’s decision to start this work. We have already started. World Rugby will make its decision on the hosts for tournaments in the HSBC 7s World Series in June – so we will know the final outcome then.”

“We have the players, we have the fans, we have the ability to stage international events. My government is fully committed to making this happen. Now it is time for the Sevens series to return to it’s spiritual home, to allow our people to see our players on home turf, playing the best in the world. Fiji for 7s – It’s time.” said the Prime Minister.