Kara Ravulo was halfway through her university studies when her father became sick, ultimately leading her to defer school to help support her family. After he died, Ravulo’s mother’s wise words encouraged her to go back and complete her studies.

But it was Ravulo’s perseverance and dedication that led her to where she is now.

With the rise of female athletes across Fiji, it has opened a door for not only women athletes to be in the media but also for women journalists reporting on sports media.

Almost every media outlet in Fiji boasts a woman sports journalist.

As the media and content officer at the Fijian Drua, Kara Ravulo is a trailblazer in the Fijian sports and communication sector. When she began her role, Fiji had never had a woman media officer for a male sporting team.

Ravulo, who has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of the South Pacific, found herself longing for something more, when she saw an advertisement for a position available at the Fiji Sun newspaper.

Ravulo expressed a gracious thanks to God after she was offered a position at the Fiji Sun, where she covered the news and business sectors before the sports editor approached her about becoming a sports journalist.

‘This is what I want’
“They tested me out. The sports editor was like, ‘Do you want to write sports stories?’ and I was like ‘I can try’.”

“Then they put me on sports and when I started doing it and started doing interviews I was like, ‘I think this is what I want to be’.”

After three years as the sports journalist at the Sun, Ravulo saw a new opportunity to level up her skills and applied for a position at the public broadcaster Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC).

She covered the sports news at FBC, but it was here that she learnt new forms of journalism.

Ravulo thanks FBC for introducing her to social media, which she explained is something that all journalists need to be well versed and multi-talented in that area of media.

After the introduction of the Fijian Drua Super Rugby side in 2022, the search for the organisation’s first media and content officer began. Having been at FBC for nearly three years, Ravulo decided to take another leap of faith and apply for the role.

Taking a position within a male-dominated industry is no easy feat, and no one can prepare you for situations such as being the only woman who travels with the Fijian Drua team for the whole season.

Privileged opportunity
Ravulo expressed her gratitude for the organisation and the team for having faith in her to be their media officer, as she believes it is such a privilege.

Being treated as one of their own is great, but it means that she does still have to carry the heavy stuff, Ravulo said while laughing.

“It was challenging at first trying to earn the teams trust but something that we women need to know is that you need to take out that mentality that women cannot do what men can do,” she said.

“When standing at games with other super rugby clubs’ male content officers, I just think to myself, I am the same as all of you.

“And you should have that mentality that I can do what you can do.”

It is not only the team at the Drua organisation that Ravulo has won over, according to former Fiji Times finance editor Monika Singh, now teaching assistant at USP.

“She has the ability to win people over with her infectious smile and friendly demeanour,” Singh said.

“I have known her for some time now and I have never heard anyone complain about her work or her work ethic,” said Singh when reflecting on Ravulo’s character.

Writing wins respect
Ravulo strongly believes that some of the challenges junior journalists are faced with can be overcome through your writing.

“You write the way that people can actually respect you and see that you’re here to mean business, it changes the perspective of how people look at you.”

🏆2024 @fijicare Moment of the Year (men’s) Kemu Valetini’s drop goal in front of 🥳Lautoka fans marking a famous (first) victory against the @NSWWaratahs#TosoDrua #PacificAusSports pic.twitter.com/WLYjWGXmKA

— Fijian Drua (@Fijian_Drua) June 17, 2024

Working with the Drua has broadened Ravulo’s horizons not only in relation to the social media and content creation, but also in understanding sponsorships, marketing, and public relations.

As a result, she has opted to go back to university and study a Bachelor of Law to venture into sports law because player welfare, lack of agents and contract negotiations is a gap she has noticed within the Fijian market.

Ruvulo would encourage all women to work within the sports media industry across Fiji.

“Women need to be more out there.”

Paige Schouw is a student journalist from the Queensland University of Technology who travelled to Fiji with the support of the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan Mobility Programme. Published in partnership with QUT.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Drua tackle the Highlanders in Dunedin today and Pasifika face the Hurricanes at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, later on in the day.

Both teams are coming off defeats last weekend, albeit in very different ways.

Drua needs focus to win
Keeping the focus and playing basics rugby right are keys to the Drua’s campaign if they want to contest the play-offs.

That plus discipline could be the difference of a win or loss against the Highlanders, who are also fighting to keep their hopes alive.

Head coach Mick Byrne lamented the lack of focus in the first half against the Reds in Brisbane last Sunday, where they lost 27-24.

“I am disappointed we did not play 80 minutes in that game,” he said.

“We got back to work in the second half. Would have been nice to have been like that for 80 minutes.”

He said the players needed to also learn when to keep the ball and set up play, instead of throwing it around too much.

“I think we probably threw the ball away in some close quarters, especially down the sidelines. We just need to carry into those areas, be strong at the ruck and carry hard again,” he said.

“We were a little bit loose at times.”

Captain Meli Derenalagi said they will need to focus from the start until the final whistle if they are to improve on their two wins from four games so far.

“We lacked focus in the first half and that let us down,” he said of last weekend’s close loss.

This week he and the players have been working on those areas and more, including first-up defence and making use of possessions that comes their way.

Moana Pasifika coach seeks ‘full performance’
Although not disappointed with last week’s showing against the Brumbies where Moana Pasifika lost 62-36, head coach Aaron Mauger, like his Drua counterpart, wants to see a full performance against the Hurricanes tomorrow.

“We played good for 60 minutes and obviously dropped away towards the end,” Mauger said.

“We highlighted what we are doing well, and we showed we can go toe-to-toe with any other team in the competition.

“We still have gaps around the 80-minute performance but there were lots of positives there.”

He doesn’t expect it to get any easier against the Hurricanes on their return to Mt Smart, the scene of last year’s 24-19 win for Moana Pasifika against the same opposition.

“The Hurricanes are playing good rugby, they are a very physical and abrasive team,” Mauger said.

“So that has been the focus this week especially looking at the collision and securing the ball.

“We expect Hurricanes to be good there — Ardie Savea, Du Plessis Kirifi and James Blackwell are all very good over the ball and so we going to have to be sharp.”

Mauger said it was nice to return to the scene of last year’s win, but they are totally focused on the task in hand.

“It’s always a pleasure to play at home especially in front of our home fans. Last year was pretty magical moment for us but they are a quality side and will have respect for us and we will respect them too,” he said.

Mauger said he was disappointed Moana Pasifika had not picked up a win in the four rounds to date.

“I have to say I’m concerned that we haven’t picked up a win because we had winnable games against the Force and the Drua, and they were two close losses,” Mauger lamented.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Fijian Drua have made history, defeating the Melbourne Rebels 31-26 in Queensland for their first-ever Super Rugby win last night, and Moana Pasifika lost their debut match 33-12 against the Crusaders in Dunedin but still impressed.

The tournament newcomers Drua went into Friday night’s match as underdogs following heavy defeats to the Waratahs and Brumbies in the opening two rounds.

Following the game, the Drua head coach Mick Byrne said he was pleased the team stuck with their plan.

“I said it last week, and we have been training well, we have been training our game well, and I think just getting use to the fact that the physical nature of Super Rugby and as I’ve said, I’m pretty much repeating myself again, I’m proud about the boys went about their task,” Byrne said

“We’ve got two players who have Super Rugby experience, so we just have to keep building each week and getting use to turning up the next Monday and going again for the next week.”

Byrne said the team have been working extremely hard since the first day of training, and tonight, they got their just desserts.

Fijian Drua fought back from 14-nil down to take a lead they never relinquished, and notch a historic, first-ever Super Rugby victory.

Meli Derenalagi was captain on the night. He said the message to the boys before the game was just to go outside and enjoy it.

“Even though we went down for first the two games but we need to stand out and try to be competitive for this Super Rugby.”

Onisi Ratave, Vilive Miramira and Apisalome Vota all dotted down for Mick Byrne’s heroic team.

The Drua will next meet the Reds.

Moana Pasifika ‘would have made their families proud’
Moana Pasifika lost their debut Super Rugby match but they showed a lot of positive signs in Friday night’s 33-12 defeat to the Crusaders in Dunedin.

Moana Pasifika had their first two matches postponed after a covid outbreak within the squad.

The Moana Pasifika captain Sekope Kepu said his side played with passion and would have made their families proud in their Super Rugby debut.

“I was very proud of the lads, the way they fronted up,” hde said.

“The Crusaders are a team that can punish you but I thought we kept coming back and keep showing up for each other and spoke about it all week, being courageous as a group, and doing it for our families and our people and I thought we showed that.”

Moana Pasifika coach Aaron Mauger said he felt the Moana Pasifika forwards did outstanding work.

“Credit is has got to go to Filo and Puleasi for the work they have done with the guys and for the guys out there who are just fronting up and executing their roles, it was really impressive.

“When we got the ball, making sure we were really clinical with it. I think they had 28 percent for most of that first half, so it was actually hard to build pressure with our attack, we had some plans to do that but like you say…we spent most of the time defending.

“It’s certainly an area we want to focus on, it’s clearly the Crusader’s plan to try and gas us. They knew we had been locked up for 12 days, we’ve only had three intensity trainings since we come out and just try and manage our work loads and on the back of that.

“It was a pretty outstanding performance, and Sekope used that word courageous before, I thought it was really courageous.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz