Australia is very proud to support the participation of the Fijian Drua in the Super Rugby Pacific competition and the Fiijana Drua in the Super W competition through the PacificAus Sports program.
As announced by the Australian government in November last year, Australia is providing $A1.8 million over three years (2022, 2023, 2024) to support the Fijian Drua compete in Super Rugby Pacific.
Chair of DFAT’s Sports Diplomacy advisory Council and director on the board of Football NSW, Stephanie Brantz said both men’s and women’s teams receive an equivalent amount of funding to support their participation in the Super Rugby Pacific and Super W competitions, respectively.
“We also support the Kaiviti Silktails to compete in the New South Wales rugby league, and Fijian netball teams to compete in Fijian and Australian competitions,” she said.
“Australia has also provided a high performance package of support to ensure the Fijiana women have access to the latest technologies to assist their training regime and what fantastic results, with Fijiana Drua winning the Super W championship in their first season.
“I’m very pleased to see the impacts of the Fijiana’s success on the attitude to women’s participation in rugby in Fiji, including the moves by the FRU to contract the Fijiana players.
“Australia is also very proud to support netball in Fiji, including through the PacificAus Sports Netball Championship in Sydney in March, and the Fiji Youth Netball Championship held at the Vodaphone Arena in Suva in April.
“Fiji were runners up in Sydney, with Tonga winning the title. Papua New Guinea and Samoa were the other teams competing.
“Suva One took out the Youth Championship – which is the platform for Fiji’s up and coming netballers to showcase their talents.”
She added that DFAT Sports Diplomacy Advisory Council does not generate funding but their role is in an advisory capacity to the Australian Government, in line with the Sports Diplomacy 2030.
“In regard to PacificAus Sports, the council engages more broadly through our networks to assist with promotion of the program and identify avenues for increased visibility, access to commercial sponsorship, broadcast reach and deployment of Sports Administration expertise.”
