The Fiji Rugby Union has called for greater integrity among players switching unions during local competitions.
According to FRU operations manager Tiko Matawalu, a major challenge Rugby House faces is players moving from one union to another without proper documentation during the Vodafone Vanua Championship.
To address this issue, there have been suggestions to introduce a ‘transfer window’ similar to football, which would help keep track of player movements.
Currently, unions have faced penalties for failing to provide proper track records of players in Fiji’s second-tier rugby competition.
Matawalu highlighted that one of the most significant challenges is players participating in club games for one union and then being registered with another union for the Vanua Championship without proper release.
He says such cases have been frequent this season, and it appears that many players are unaware of the consequences of these actions.
“We have had cases this year where we had to penalise teams whereby, they lose their points.
While they may have won the game, we penalised them for fielding players as such,” the former Nadroga skipper added.
He emphasised the importance of educating players about the value of integrity, which is one of the core principles of rugby.
Matawalu said maintaining integrity at all levels of the sport requires players to be honest about their past affiliations with unions.
He says by doing so, administrators can complete the necessary paperwork, making players eligible to play for their desired unions.
Drawing a parallel with soccer, Matawalu said Fiji rugby may move towards a system where club registration is closely monitored by the national body to help protect the interests of all stakeholders involved.
“So, the message is for players to have some level of integrity and honesty to your administrators so that necessary paperwork can be done to engage your services.”
He said team managers also had a role to play in implementing a robust check system to ensure compliance with the regulations.
