The Fiji Rugby Union today admitted that they had not done the Fijiana 7s girls’ team to Dubai last year justice when they had allowed them to travel without making proper checks about logistics and travel.
FRU Board of Trustees chairman Peter Mazey was responding to a story complete with photos by Mai TV last week showing members of the team sleeping on benches outside the Sydney airport which closes at 11 pm every night.
“You’ve all seen the photos, they were real and yes the girls had to stay outside of the Sydney airport for four hours. The welfare, safety and wellbeing of all our players and staff is very important and we don’t take that lightly, but we let our Fiji Women’s 7s team down on their travel from Fiji to Dubai.”
“Normally the team manager would attend to any outstanding matters such as booking rooms in this instance, but regrettably she was not with the Team as she was returning from the Pacific Games in the Solomons and joined the team in Dubai later.
“But none of this is right. They were let down.
“This route had been taken previously by the teams and it seems that poor planning and communication within Rugby House with World Rugby and across both teams contributed to the women spending time outside the airport.”
As a consequence of this, Mazey said the General Manager HPU BJ Mathers and Women’s High-Performance Manager Alana Thomas now make checks with departing teams on their logistics and travels.
Mai TV had published photos of the team sleeping on the benches while some sat and slept braving the cold Sydney night with meagre cover.
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