Fiji team in NSW Cup takes a step closer to confirmation

Petero Civoniceva’s bid for a Fiji-based team to play in the New South Wales Cup has been officially endorsed by the Fiji National Rugby League.

Rugby League legend Petero Civoniceva has worked tirelessly over the last three years for a Fiji-based team in the Intrust Super Premiership NSW and it looks like it will finally come into place in 2019 after the FNRL wrote to the NSWRL to advise they had formally endorsed the bid at a recent board meeting.

Civoniceva told NRL.com: “The endorsement of the FNRL was the missing piece in the jigsaw so now that we have got that it allows us to start to set up for 2019.

“We are obviously now going to make a major announcement and will then get on our way towards meeting all the criteria set by the NSWRL to have a team ready for the 2019 season.”

The support of the FNRL was the last thing Civoniceva needed to secure funding from the government and sponsors in Fiji for the team.

The former Fiji star has been in talks with sponsors to help provide the $1.5million needed to cover operating costs, including flights and accommodation for the visiting NSW Cup sides in Fiji.

He added: “To have the endorsement of the FNRL, there is obviously benefits for companies that sponsor the bid in Fiji and that is why it was important.

“Now we have that it allows us to go to the sponsors we have been speaking to for some time to let them know we have ticked every box in terms of getting those endorsements in place.

“There are obviously financial matters that need to be adhered to and we have to have those ticked off by the NSWRL, and then once we do that we can get underway.

“Providing we can prove ourselves financially viable and sustainable we will be ready to go in 2019.”