Quote: JTB "I know that there is a good islander representation in the NRL, but for me the NRL clubs that are currently rolling in money with the strong economy, exchange rate and tv deals are still missing a trick out there. Fijians absolutely love their rugby, I've only been out there once but was amazed that even the tiniest villages consisting of maybe a dozen tin shacks all have a rugby pitch in the middle. The back page of the papers every single day had a full page on the Fiji RU 7's team, some days simply giving a run through of how they'd trained that day as they are the Fijians big presence on any world stage. There were adverts in the classifieds each week for 'turn up and play' 7's tournaments with pretty hefty cash prize pots for the winners where apparently the standard is staggering.
However, the facilities are tatty and poor, the national stadium other than one modest stand was a grass banked athletics track. It doesn't take a giant leap of imagination to see that an NRL club could pump some money into a club or set of facilities there and have the locals flocking, and I'd wager the same for Tonga and Samoa. They'd have the pick of the islanders and a free scouting system with the weekly tournaments to turn up and watch rather than at present picking up those that have already emigrated to Australia. It wouldn't harm them to have a nice pre-season training camp there either. Some very draconian spectator rules thoughhttps://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/370_101163115251_2218_n.jpg" >'"
The Newcastle Knights have done quite a lot for League in Fiji in the last few years. Many of the coaching and training staff have spent time in the country, including running camps and trial games leading up to this world cup. You can see the Australian based Fijians v the domestic Fijians trial game on youtube from a few months ago, and they also had a warmup game a week before the WC where the full WC squad played a game against domestic players in Fiji. A few years ago they brought the Fiji domestic side to Newcastle to play a pre-season trial against the Knights (which was a good game - Fiji played much better than the scoreline indicates - they bashed the Knights around in fact).
This year the Knights gave two Fijians trial games. The highest profile player was Watisoni Votu, a winger who has been a regular Union rep for Fiji in both 7s and 15s. He looked really good in his 3 or 4 trial games and I understand the reason he was cut was because he spoke no English and the coaches found it difficult to communicate what they wanted him to do, which wasn't working because he needed to learn a lot to convert from Union to League. The other guy that trialled was a 21 year old prop named Simi something. He is a huge unit with a lot to learn, and after a few trials he was dropped back to the local comp to learn his trade. I don't know if he went well enough to get a call up to the squad this year.
For the last few years the Knights have also planed to have a pre-season camp in Fiji, but it hasn't panned out for one reason or another. This year I think the Auckland 9s have killed off the idea - but in principal it is very doable. Fiji has a lot of holiday resorts which can be rented cheaply which have gyms and nearby football fields.
