Fiji Rugby admits underpaying women internationals
Fiji Rugby has conceded they underpaid their women's team for last year's World Cup and this year's Oceania Rugby Women's Championship after captain Sereima Leweniqila made a public complaint on social media.
The Fijiana finished runners-up to Samoa at the regional tournament on Australia's Gold Coast this month.
On Tuesday loose forward Leweniqila took to Facebook to complain that the players had not been paid in full.
"Do we have to win every time to be treated right? Could we get paid the amount due to us?" she wrote.
"What does it take for our voices to be heard? Do we always have to fight to get what we deserve? Pay Us What is Due to Us."
Fiji Rugby's board of trustees released a statement on Thursday saying all payments had been made, but a day later the interim chairman of the board, Peter Mazey, issued another saying there had been an error.
"I personally contacted Sereima Leweniqila ... to address the issues she had raised and lea rned that the major concern of the women was that ... they had been promised a payment of $300 per day and not the $100 per day they had received," Mazey said in the statement.
"During my further discussions with Sereima, I also learned that the women who represented us at the women's World Cup last year were also underpaid and that they had not received any response from Rugby House to their queries."
Mazey said his investigations had concluded that both complaints were justified and he assured the players that the situation would be rectified.
The confusion over the allowance for the Oceania championship, he added, had come about because $100 was the normal allowance for a regional event.
Leweniqila and many of her international teammates were also members of the Fijiana Drua side that claimed a second straight title in Australia's provincial Super W competition in early May.
They won the championship despite off-field money issues that at one point left them locked out of the restaurant at t heir Queensland accommodation over an unpaid bill.
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I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
England played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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