The Ba Women’s Rugby Programme has secured a sponsorship deal with Rooster Chicken, which will support the Ba Tikina Championships until 2025.
The women’s section of this innovative franchise competition has been named the Rooster Chicken Shield, and it features six teams in its inaugural tournament.
“Through this sponsorship, we are another step closer to empowering the women of our nation and connecting communities to become a diaspora of unified Fiji,” Rooster Poultry CEO Stanley Raniga said.
“Ba is home to Rooster Poultry and our sponsorship will assist the Ba Rugby Union procure uniforms for the six women’s teams, championship shield, and special prizes for the winners.This initiative from Ba Rugby will give Ba women the best preparation for next year’s Ranadi Cup and we proudly support this amazing cause,” he added.
“Rooster is famed for supporting women’s rugby in Fiji as the title sponsor of the Fijiana Drua that won the prestigious Women’s Super Rugby Championship in 2022 and 2023.”
Malakai Vukinavanua, recently appointed head of the BRU’s Women’s Development Programme, expressed the union’s delight with the sponsorship, stressing the importance of regular competition.
“This funding from Rooster will really help kick off our women’s programme,” he said. “The opening match last weekend between Bulu Solesole and Nailaga Tiliva Bukuya showed the enormous potential of women’s rugby in the province. And the debut by Magodro and Qaliyalatina highlighted several excellent new forwards.”
The Rooster Chicken Shield marks the first competitive women’s rugby competition in Ba, and the immediate goal is to have the women’s teams play regularly to select a training squad for the 2024 Ranadi Cup, which begins in February.
“We are also committed to including women’s teams as part of our club rugby next season and will have a Ba Women’s 7s team in action in the off-season.”
The third round of the Rooster Chicken Shield will take place at Vinod Patel Park in Ba this Saturday, starting at 1:45 pm with the match between Magodro and Nailaga. This will be followed by Qaliyalatina versus Naloto, and finally, Bulu against Veiyasana.
Caption: Rooster Poultry CEO Stanley Raniga (right) shakes hands with Malakai Vukinavanua after signing the three-year sponsorship deal. Courtesy of: Ba Rugby Union.
