Women are instrumental in ensuring national food security, the well-being of families and the future of sustainable agriculture.
These noble reasons have encouraged members of the Ba Women’s Rugby Association to establish an affiliate club aimed at empowering young women.
Association representative and pioneering member of Life After Rugby, Ilisapeci Viti, says the club helps school dropouts, women ruggers who don’t get their contracts renewed, and those from broken families.
Ilisapeci was one of the many women who participated in the recent National Women in Agriculture Symposium 2025 held in Suva last week.
She used the national meet to create awareness about the club and the work it has been doing.
“The reason why we formed the club was to help empower and uplift women in the village, especially those who come from broken families,” she said.
“We started this group when we were all unemployed. We consider ourselves one big family and we call ourselves the Life After Rugby club.
The club has at a farm in a place called Chinakobi where members plant pumpkins, eggplants, guava, breadfruit and avocado.
“It is a club for those who don’t have a job after playing rugby or have dropped out of school. Farming was one thing we thought could benefit our members and earn them money.
To assist members better in the farming venture, they were trained by agriculture officials.
The club started with more than 200 members but now only 10 remain.
“We had almost over 240 members in our club in the beginning but over the years people dropped out and now there are just 10 of us looking after the farm,” she said.
“The farm has been doing really well and I can proudly say that we have achieved a lot of good things such as the construction of a three-bedroom house from money earned selling our produce.
“Our other big achievement is having two of our players represent the country in the Fijiana Drua Women’s team. One was part of the Fiji women’s 7s squad.”
Ilisapeci believes young girls should not settle for less.
“The land is there for you to till, make use of it and make use of your talents,” she said.
“We all came together because of our love for rugby, and now, we have used that talent to till the land and offer assistance to other clubs who need it.”
