One of the oldest and prominent rugby clubs of Naitasiri is using rugby to develop, help and keep their teenagers and young people away from criminal activities.
Yesterday, the Wailevu Rugby Club which comprises young men from Nawaisomo, Nakida, Wairuarua, Dreketi villages invited Alison Burchell, the Permanent Secretary for Youth and Sports to brief them on Government’s plans in enhancing young Fijians and those in rural areas.
Club manager Tomasi Navulalevu said the initiative was to help their members improve on rugby and their individual lives.
“We invited Alison Burchell, the Permanent Secretary for Youth and Sports to brief, inform and educate us on what’s happening in her ministry and also Government’s plans for sports teams like us and our young people because we are from a rural area,” he said.
The club’s team Kaite plays in the Naitasiri Rugby Union weekly Samabula Zone at Ram Lakhan Park in Samabula.
The team produced national reps such as former Fiji 7s reps Senivalati Vunibola, Jimilai Nakaidawa, who is now based in France, former Naitasiri, Suva and Lautoka rep John Stewart and former national 7s rep cum, Flying Fijian and France-based Benito Masilevu.
“We have a lot of good rugby talents and most of them are unemployed. Most live in the village. We want to use rugby t help them gain good living.
“Most of us don’t know what is happening in urban areas. There’s a lot of development happening in Fiji and also a lot of new challenges and educational reforms for young people. Inviting the PS allows us to learn a lot of thing including preventative measures we can take against drugs, abuse and rape to keep our players away from criminal activities. Most importantly, we want to develop and improve the lives of our players and their rugby.
“We are using rugby to help them because men and teenagers are always immediately linked to problems arising from the use of drugs, abuse and rapes. Rugby brings all of us together and we want to use this to help our young people,” he said.
The team, meanwhile, will compete today in their weekly competition.
