CAPACITY BUILDING IS THE KEY

Captain Jay Clarke stated that having more capacity building activities for sporting bodies will raise the level of performance in international competitions.

The head of the Australian Defence Force delegation for the Australian development program stated during a cocktail at the Fiji Naval Base on Thursday 14^th March 2019, that Fiji has talented players, great coaches, managers and having more capacity building activities will raise the high level performance of the players and be internationally competitive.

The Australian Defence Force delegation are in the country with the company of the National Rugby League (NRL) officials from Australia and have designed a six days Development Program for Rugby League juniors and local clubs. Capt. Clarke stated that the program is not a military engagement but a sporting activity since military institutions of Australia and Fiji both have sporting clubs and have similar values.  “It’s part of our international engagement strategy and military engagement does not mean military activity as this is a sporting engagement,” he said.

Capt. Clarke stated that the development program also involves running coaching clinics for local clubs. “Four or five best players are selected from each club and we’ll run coaching clinic for them as well as their coaches,” he said. “The beauty of the development program was the inclusion of several Fiji Defence Force members into the program which contributes to building relations for our defence forces,” he added.

“We actually have qualified fifty eight official tonight and Fiji Rugby League has never had that many referees trained,” Capt. Clarke said. He added that he hopes to engage with Rugby Union and some other sports in the Pacific Nations for more capacity building activities in future.

The Director of Finance, Logistics and Accounts (DFLA), Captain (Navy) Lepani Ratu Vaniqi and also the President of the Army Rugby League Club expressed his appreciation on the impact of the visit which had drawn maximum attendance at various schools and participants from local clubs. “Fiji is fortunate to be chosen by the Australian Defence Force rugby league together with the National Rugby League officials in developing schools rugby league and local rugby league clubs,” he said. He added that he admired the interest shown by locals on the maximum attendance at various schools development programs and attendance from local rugby league clubs. “After their visit this week, I am optimistic that their successful visit will have a huge impact on promoting rugby league within the RFMF,” Capt. Vaniqi said.

Capt. (Navy) Vaniqi concluded that the capacity building program has boosted the confidence of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces’ Rugby League Team members and if given the green light to participate in the upcoming match between the Fiji Bati and the Australian NRL team will be a bonus on promoting the sport within the RFMF.