Fiji National Rugby League youth coach and educator Jone Wesele grapples with financial constraints as he endeavours to expand the development program nationwide, unwavering in his commitment to propel the sport forward.
“It was a challenging year especially when things don’t go your way in terms of finance and support.
“Reflecting with what I’ve seen in the last 13 years while I’m with Fiji National Rugby league is the growth and setback that is associated with the finance for our grassroots development,” Wesele explained.
Recognising a crucial need for more organised competitions for junior players and competitive club-level contests, Wesele critiques the prevailing focus on elite levels.
“Mostly the focus is on elite level, the competition is more focused on adults and this is poor for grass root development as far as their education and their competition is concerned.
“Mostly we tend to neglect the younger ones, the ones who will come through the system to replace the ones who have been promoted to elite level it’s all part of how people look at things from their perspective,” he added.
Wesele expresses gratitude to the Fiji National Sports Commission’s development arm for supporting FNRL’s youth development efforts.
“I want to acknowledge Fiji National Sports Commission development arm, they have come in to empower coaches, match officials, but still there is need to get down to the root of things, I’ve been observing this quite a while.”
The 41-year-old, hailing from Vatoa, Ono-i-Lau, outlines his plans for local competitions, drawing inspiration from the successful practices of the Australian Rugby League.
“There are so many things that I wanted to incorporate into the development of our grassroots. Use the competition that our Australian Rugby League counterpart has been using the past years.
“With that being said, there’s so many things that we can work on to improve the development phases of our long-term development athlete program. Unfortunately, right now we were struggling with it, based on what I’ve seen in the finance to meet their demand, that is to reflect back with regards to development,” Wesele explained.
Despite challenges, Wesele sees hope in the outreach efforts of the Fiji Sports Commission, emphasising the necessity for sporting bodies, including FNRL, to create events such as tournaments and gala days for young participants.
“The Fiji Sports Commission is reaching out to communities, but at the top level I think, all sporting bodies in particular Fiji National Rugby League needs to find a way to create these meets like tournaments or competition or gala day for our young ones to enjoy the sport and what the sport has to offer. At the same time, make new friends and we can start to implement more details of rugby league specific core skills to prepare them for later stages of development.
“So that they are not only exposed but get the feel of playing at a high level, but also broaden their knowledge of life rather than the sport itself.”
The former Fiji Bati rep currently lives in Lautoka and is working to set up his development officers and coaches in the West.
“I have submitted my proposal to FNRL and hope that this proposal will come to fruition next year since we will host some regional teams.”
