The Fiji Rugby Union has indicated that they had booked for Albert Park in Suva on February 4 and that claims of late booking are false.
This comes in the wake of a second venue booking dispute with the Fiji Football Association which has called for government intervention through the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Fiji FA claimed that they were informed by the Suva City Council that no sporting federation had booked for Albert Park during the OFC Women’s Nations Cup window in July, only to be told on June 17, that priority will be given to FRU for training ahead of the FIJI Water Flying Fijians Test against Scotland.
Times Sport has contacted SCC for clarification and a response is expected today.
Fiji Rugby Union operations manager Sale Sorovaki entailed with evidence that booking for Albert Park was done five months in advance.
“The booking was done on February 4th. It was not last-minute booking as claimed.”
“We requested for (grounds) two and three because of the closure and insisted if ground one could be made available,” Sorovaki said
The Fiji FA during negotiations with SCC had requested for grounds two and four.
SCC cited the sustainability of Albert Park as one of the reasons for allocating the venue to FRU.
However, the Fiji FA argued that their players wear moulded plastic or rubber studs compared to rugby.
In response, Sorovaki said, “Discussions with SCC around this has been on the use of rubber studs for field sessions and aluminium studs on the allocated space on the sides for scrummaging etc.”
For alternative options, the FRU had also booked Fiji Sports Council’s Bidesi and Buckhurst Park on January 16.
