Sacked Fiji Airways Fiji 7s men’s head coach Ben Gollings was given three warnings by the Fiji Rugby Union prior to his dismissal.
This was revealed during a press conference at Rugby House yesterday where interim chair Peter Mazey, board member Jenny Seeto and interim administrator Simione Valenitabua informed the media of the changes made to the Fiji 7s coaching panel.
Mazey said they played their part as an employer within the jurisdiction of the terms of contract and under Fiji’s contract laws.
“He (Gollings) got his first verbal warning in November last year,” Mazey said.
“We had to give three verbals and one written, they were all given.
The first one was in November, another two were given after the Cape Town and Perth 7s and he got a written warning after the Vancouver 7s.”
Mazey added that the unanimous decision by the board of trustees to let go of Gollings was based on the best interest of the team and not because of outside influence.
“You have to follow the procedure by giving verbal warnings and written warnings.
I have to say that the contracts of our coaches are substantial contracts, you all know we are very short on money so we couldn’t afford to do anything wrong because it would be very expensive.
“I would like to point out that the decision to go with Osea Kolinisau was not easy and it wasn’t made under pressure from all of you and other external elements.
We had to follow processes as guided by the contract laws of Fiji and the laws of Fiji.”
Interim administrator Simione Valenitabua said Gollings was disappointed by the decision, but it had to be done as he did not meet the requirements of his contract.
