No rugby recruitment agency can operate in Fiji without the approval and endorsement of its application to do so by the Fiji Rugby Union’s board of directors.
This is the word from its acting chief executive officer Koli Sewabu.
Speaking on the sidelines of the FRU Symposium at the upper hall of Albert Park in Suva yesterday, he said agencies would only be allowed to do so if they met a four-part criteria.
These fall under the Fiji Rugby Football Limited’s Constitution and Section 74 of the Articles of Association.
The first part of the criteria says the application to set up the agency must comply with Fiji laws such as Fiji employment regulations and others such as those by World Rugby and Fiji Rugby’s policy and regulation on rugby recruitment agencies.
“We’re currently developing that policy at the moment, a draft is ready and we are going to go through a number of consultations before we finally get that endorsed and approved by the board,” Sewabu said.
The second part, Sewabu stated, is for the agency to register itself as a business in Fiji under the Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations and with Fiji Rugby Union.
Third, the agency must pay the relevant fees specified in the regulations, which he added was not specified but would be done so when the policy was endorsed.
The fourth part is for the agency’s registration to be reviewed every two years to ensure a strict monitoring process.
He said this was done since all recruitment agencies had a legitimate part to play in the development of the professional careers of Fiji’s rugby players.
“However, Fiji Rugby has a paramount duty to protect the welfare, the safety and the interests of its players who are its greatest assets,” Sewabu said.