England v Fiji moved to Salford

[JonM]

36 minutes ago, Nate90 said:

I was looking forward to attending the event in Rochdale. The novelty factor won't be there in Salford .

I guess Fji played Ireland at Rochdale in 2013 - it was a sellout IIRC. They also had a warmup against Hornets I think. The civic reception and the Fijian players singing hymns got quite a lot of publicity at the time.

[M j M]

It keeps coming back to the huge desirability of Rugby League clubs not being beholden to other sports and other clubs. We've seen it over and over again, you might start with a climate of working in harmony and for mutual benefit but these things can go very wrong very quickly. And if you're the one without the control you can end up in a really difficult position.

[paulwalker71]

17 hours ago, Eddie said:

That may be, but are there 50 of them, or 50,000? 

It's not a simple question to answer, Eddie

The connection between Rochdale and Fiji goes back to the early 60s. You've got the descendants of those people - plus others have come across since because they saw the opportunity.

Those people have inter-married with locals so you've got a mixed bag of Fijian "heritage" people - some with more connection to Fiji than others. And of course some will have moved to other parts of the area, not necessarily within Rochdale but close by.

Wikipedia says there are 6,285 people BORN in Fiji resident in the UK at the last census. Let's say a third of those live in Rochdale. But the numbers claiming Fijian heritage will be far larger.

[Eddie]

Statement from Rochdale Hornets

https://www.hornetsrugbyleague.co.uk/article/1122/board-statement-in-response-to-rafc