Will the Nations Championship financially underdeliver for in-need Fiji?

With Fiji set to sell out Everton’s stadium this weekend why isn’t it rosy for the island nation, Ollie Phillips asks.

In theory this month should have been a dream one for Fiji’s rugby team, despite losing to Wales in their opening Nations Championship match.

They’ve upped sticks from Suva in the Pacific and chosen to call Britain home for their three “home” fixtures in the inaugural hemispherical competition.

They took on Wales at the Cardiff City Stadium last week, will face England in Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday and will then travel to Murrayfield for a home match against usual tenants Scotland.

The plan would have been to bank significant sums of cash to help futureproof the Flying Fijians, develop facilities across the island nation’s rugby infrastructure and to show off a brand that already has rugby fans in love with a much wider audience.

But what is the reality of that? Well it looks like it could end up being downplayed pretty significantly.

The crowds were sparse for the team’s 24-39 “home” game across the River Severn and despite fan numbers looking much healthier this weekend in Liverpool, a lack of domestic sponsors around the team – and the withdrawal of Qatar Airways as the Nations Championship’s lead sponsor, at a cost of £80m – will dent Fiji significantly.

It is understood that two thirds of tickets have been sold for the Scotland game. This is good. Why? Because Fiji keeps the revenue. And tournament bosses will be keen to stress that this will happen every two years, and – combined with World Cup warm-ups – it could still see a healthy return for the nation.

Fiji need all the help…

Fiji has often been seen as an afterthought across rugby, seen as one of the premier “other” teams – outside from the big six European teams and the four major southern hemisphere teams. They risk being cut adrift by Japan, and the growth of Hong Kong – or Hong Kong China, World Rugby bigwigs insist they’re called – and a developing geopolitical game being played in the Indo-Pacific which has both rugby union and league at its heart.

The side – whose team boasts the likes of former Bristol Bears player Semi Radradra, his centre partner Josua Tuisova and Saracens’ Eroni Mawi – therefore needs all the help they can get.

One does wonder why a number of British brands have not used the three-week spell in which Fiji is spending across the UK to advertise with a brand that will be on free-to-air television at favourable times against Wales, England and Scotland. 

There’s certainly value to be had with being shown across ITV 1 on a Saturday afternoon, a time that would cost an arm and a leg if said brand was advertising over Wimbledon or Fifa World Cup coverage.

Seeing Fiji run out in front of a sold out Hill Dickinson Stadium this weekend will make up for the woeful showing last week in Cardiff – where the attendance was 16,000.

But it is hard not to feel that this tournament has promised itself as a major boon for Fijian rugby – and bosses will argue it has been – but will leave the island nation a little underwhelmed.

Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance. Follow Ollie @OlliePhillips11