Play the Game: the New FRU Board

Play the game, for when the one great player comes to write against your name,  He writes not whether you won or lost, but how  you played the game.

 

The new Board. Photo: Fiji Live

It only seems like yesterday when the anti-government blogs reported they had heard from “usually reliable sources” that  navy commander Francis Kean intended to stand for election to the Fiji Rugby Board hoping to be made Chairman,  after which he’d nominate his brother-in-law Voqere Bainimarama for president .

Either they were misinformed or Kean changed his mind.  He wasn’t even nominated — though he could still be nominated as the PM’s nominee.   Not to be deterred, the bloggers  now complain that too many people with police or military connections have been elected —but they were elected, and with elections you don’t always get the results you want unless they’re rigged.  

The newly elected Board comprises nine members: military (2),  police (1),  civil servant (1), lawyer (1), former SDL Cabinet Minister (1), accountant (1), businessman (1), and a former MP (1).   A  former SDL Cabinet Minister, Ilaitia Tuisesi,  was elected Union chairman and a former SDL MP, Ratu Isakeli Tasere, was elected president.   Tuisesi later denied he had been elected chairman.  It was just (another!) rumour; the decision has not yet been made.

Outgoing FRU  chairman Viliame Gavoka  said for the sake of a sport that is loved and followed by the general public, the newly elected board should ensure the mistakes of 2010 are not repeated.

The media and blogs chose to highlight military and police representation — and chose not to mention that two Board members were former members of the ousted Qarase government.  It looks like a pretty balanced Board to me.  Can’t say the same about the reporting.