Local sports organisations should look into the future welfare of players after retiring from the field.

These were the words of Fiji High Court Judge, Justice Thomas Hickie during the recent Attorney General’s Conference in Sigatoka.

He touched on the development of sports and its law saying local fraternities should not heavily rely on sending players overseas but their education and welfare.

“Playing is not about money, winning and fame but it’s about the welfare of players,” Hickie said.

“Playing is not a lifetime career, its short and when players reach a certain age, they retire. It is important to educate players because through education they are able to find a living.”

“Local sporting bodies should approach the University of the South Pacific or the University of Fiji to offer certain educational program to help educate players and give them some sort of qualification.”

Hickie also added that international players who are born in Fiji should be given the right to play for their country. In this way, Fiji will have a crop of quality players.

“Players go to other parts of the world to play and should come back and play for their country first. What happens in soccer or football they have a window of view, where players play a lot of international matches and they have to come back and play for their home country. This is not happening in rugby and other sports, we should strengthen the recruitment of international players to come and play for their birth country,” he added.

Fijilive

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