The Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) helped facilitate the confirmation of the HFC Bank Stadium to host the finals of the Vodafone Deans Trophy and the Weet-Bix Raluve competitions.
This was revealed by the Fiji Secondary Schools Rugby Union’s (FSSRU) vice president for development, Biu Colati.
In an interview yesterday, he shared the FRU had assisted the FSSRU in engaging the Fiji Sports Council to give approval for holding the finals of the two secondary schools competitions there on August 23.
“Remember, we are an affiliate of Fiji Rugby, so whenever we run into a concrete wall, Fiji Rugby is always there to come and bring us out of that,” Colati explained.
“So that is exactly what happened, we were in a dire situation and Fiji Rugby just came in, helped us out and here we are with the best venue that anyone in Fiji could ever ask for.”
The confirmation for hosting these events was announced by the Fiji Sports Council on its official Facebook page on Monday evening.
In the statement, it said approval was granted by the council’s acting chief executive Gilbert Vakalalabure.
The confirmation has ended the FSSRU’s dilemma in searching for a suitable venue to hold the finals of both competitions.
Earlier media reports had stated the finals would be held at the recently-reopened Govind Park in Ba, however its custodians, the Ba Town Council, said the venue was already booked for the Fiji Secondary Schools IDC tournament.
Vakalalabure then said the HFC Bank Stadium was available, however, the FSSRU had not approached the Council yet to make a booking.
Meanwhile, the national quarter-finals of the Deans competition will be held this Saturday at Churchill Park in Lautoka and at Prince Charles Park in Nadi.
