The Fiji Bitter Labasa 7s prizemoney for the netball competition dropped to $500 because only four teams participated in the tournament.
The initial winner’s purse was $1500.
Showing his disappointment, Northern Stars coach Nimilote Naisorotabua said the poor marketing of organisers should not be blamed for the shortchange.
Naisorotabua said the officials should have decreased the registration fee of $250 by half.
“We are disappointed with the officials for dropping the prize, this is uncalled for. There was no need to drop the prizemoney.
“Also, the reduction of $1500 to $1000 is too much, they should’ve consulted the teams before dropping the prizemoney. We paid so much only to compete for $500.”
He said the team only knew of the change yesterday morning.
Naisorotabua said they had two teams for the tournaments – Northern Stars Pearl comprised of secondary school students and Northern Women’s team.
“This is the first time for the Fiji Labasa 7s tournament, previously most of the women used to play for Service,” he said.
“It’s a newly-formed team, put together mid this year but we have taken part in some tournaments in Labasa and Savusavu.
“They were selected through their commitments in training. The rule was if they don’t come to training, they won’t play.”
He said the drop in numbers of teams this year was due to the lack of awareness of the tournament on Vanua Levu.
In response, Fiji Bitter Labasa 7s communication officer Jackson Tuvici said the teams were made aware of the decrease in prizemoney yesterday.
Tuvici claimed all teams had acknowledged and agreed to this.