Waisea Nayacalevu, a center for the Flying Fijians, has made startling allegations regarding the internal workings of the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU). He revealed that the team nearly considered boycotting their quarterfinal match against England in last year’s Rugby World Cup due to unfulfilled financial promises made by the union.
In a candid interview with the Daily Mail’s rugby correspondent Nick Simon, Nayacalevu confirmed longstanding suspicions in Fiji about issues related to financial management and player welfare within Rugby House in Suva. The 34-year-old, who has earned over 40 caps for Fiji, described the corruption within FRU as a “virus” that needs to be eradicated for improvement.
“We’ve never said this in public, but it’s time for it to go out,” Nayacalevu stated. He emphasized the need to eliminate the corruption that has plagued Fiji rugby, detailing the team’s frustrations about payments they were owed.
“We weren’t going to play the match against England; we were prepared to walk out. They promised us bonuses that we never received,” Nayacalevu explained. He organized a presentation via Zoom to address the issue, setting a deadline by which they expected to be paid, warning that failure to comply would result in players not participating in the crucial match.
The report mentions other senior players expressing similar frustrations, including Semi Radradra, Levani Botia, Albert Tuisue, and Eroni Mawi. Nayacalevu noted that this was not the first instance of such problems arising, stating that they only agreed to play following the receipt of their payments just days before the match.
“I’ve been playing for Fiji for over 10 years, and it’s always the same issues—players getting partially paid or not getting paid for weeks,” he highlighted. “We received our payments on the Thursday before the England match, which was a close call and affected our focus.”
Despite these challenges, Nayacalevu believes that the Flying Fijians have the potential to win the World Cup, provided that the organization is managed more professionally. “If we didn’t have corruption and had professional people in charge, then Fiji would be in a better position,” he added, insisting that it is essential to address these issues.
Nayacalevu, who began his rugby career with the Uprising Resort sevens team and gained prominence with the Fijian sevens team, said that the ongoing disruptions hindered their performance in the loss against England. He urged his teammates to advocate for themselves and speak up when they encounter similar issues in the future.
“Fiji has the potential to win the World Cup; that was our mindset last year,” he expressed. “We were frustrated after the England match as we felt we were building momentum, but there were constant interruptions.”
As one of the senior players absent from the current Flying Fijians schedule due to club commitments, Nayacalevu led the team against the All Blacks earlier this year before returning to England for the new rugby season. He has recently relocated to Sale with his family after a decade spent in Paris.
Attempts to reach FRU Interim Board chairman Peter Mazey and chief executive officer Rovereto Nayaclevu for comment on Nayacalevu’s allegations have been made. This situation echoes earlier reports where the Fijiana women’s rugby team raised concerns about delayed allowance payments, which the FRU acknowledged before addressing the payments. Similarly, the Fijiana Drua rugby team faced support issues, relying on Australia-based Fijians during their Super W matches. The FRU had admitted to experiencing “cash flow” challenges, which led to a review and upgrades initiated by the Interim FRU Board set up by the Fijian government and World Rugby last year.