7 Dollars 2017. Fiji Rugby 7s gold medal win, Fiji
| in Krause book | Number: 120 |
| Years of issue: | 21.04.2017 |
| Edition: | 2 000 000 |
| Signatures: | Governor Reserve Bank of Fiji: Mr. Barry Whiteside |
| Serie: | Commemorative issue |
| Specimen of: | 2017 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 140 х 67 |
| Printer: | Oberthur Fiduciare, Chantepie |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Fiji Rugby 7s player Savenaca Rawaca running with the ball (from the final against Great Britain at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro). Denomination 7.
Avers:
On background are Fiji patterns.
Above, in gold foil, the tip Domodomo (like the logo of a Fiji bank) (read the description of the reverse!) And the year is 2016.
On top (on obverse and reverse) is aerial view on ANZ National Stadium.
The ANZ National Stadium (known as ANZ Stadium)[3] is a multi-purpose stadium in Suva, Fiji.
ANZ Stadium is used primarily for rugby league, rugby union and football matches, and features a track as well as a pitch suitable for worldwide competition. It has undercover seating for 4,000 spectators, and concrete and grass embankments that increase the capacity to 15,000 people.
Originally called Buckhurst Park, the stadium was constructed in 1951 on sixteen hectares of land given by William H. B. Buckhurst in 1948.
The stadium was first renovated in 1978-1979 for the Sixth South Pacific Games.[6] Work commenced in April 1978 with the demolition of the grandstand, which had lost its roof during Hurricane Bebe. The stadium was renamed National Stadium upon reopening in 1979.
A second renovation took place in 2012, sponsored by ANZ Fiji, Fiji's largest bank, at a cost of FJD $17.5 million. The stadium reopened in March 2013, with a rugby union game between the Fiji national team and Classic All Blacks. 
The national flag of Fiji (Fijian: kuila mai Viti) was adopted on 10 October 1970. The state arms have been slightly modified but the flag has remained the same as during Fiji's colonial period. It is a defaced sky-blue "Blue Ensign" (the actual Blue Ensign version of the flag is the Government ensign), with the shield from the National Coat of Arms. It has remained unchanged since Fiji was declared a republic in 1987, despite calls from some politicians for changes.
A plan to change the flag, announced by Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama in 2013, was abandoned in August 2016.
The flag's bright blue background symbolizes the Pacific Ocean, which plays an important part in the lives of the islanders, both in terms of the fishing industry, and the huge tourist trade. The Union Jack reflects the country's links with the United Kingdom. The shield is derived from the country's coat of arms, which was granted by Royal Warrant in 1908. It is a white shield with a red cross and a red chief (upper third of a shield). The images depicted on the shield represent agricultural activities on the islands, and the historical associations with the United Kingdom. At the top of the shield, a British lion holds a cocoa pod between its paws. The first quarter is sugar cane, second quarter is a coconut palm, the third quarter is a dove of peace, and the fourth quarter is a bunch of bananas.
The flag is very similar to the colonial ensign used prior to independence, the main differences being the latter used a darker shade of blue and displayed the entire Fijian coat of arms as opposed to just the shield. While some reformists have called for the removal of the Union Flag, seeing it a British colonial emblem, others support its retention for the sake of historical continuity. The flags of five other independent countries (see Flags of Australia, Cook Islands, New Zealand, Niue, and Tuvalu articles) retain the Union Flag in their national flags. But of these, only Fiji is a republic. The Union flag also remains on the flag of Hawaii, a U.S. state since 1959.
Some influential Fijians have called for the restoration of the full coat of arms to the flag. On 30 November 2005, Fiji's Great Council of Chiefs called for the two warrior figures, who guard the shield on the coat of arms, to be placed on the flag, along with a miniature canoe and the national motto, Rerevaka na kalou ka doka na tui ("Fear God and honour the Queen") – symbols that were featured on the original flag of the Kingdom of Viti, the first unified Fijian state created under the leadership of Seru Epenisa Cakobau in 1871.
"The coat of arms is very significant because it has the word of God, then it has the two warriors and the Fijian canoe also. I think that the council members prefer that the full coat of arms be included in the Fiji flag," said Asesela Sadole, General Secretary of the Great Council of Chiefs.
Prior to ceding the country to British rule in 1874, the government of Fiji adopted a national flag featuring blue and white vertical stripes, with in the centre a red shield depicting a white dove. This flag ceased to be used when the colonial era began and Fiji relinquished its independence. Fiji was a British colony from 1874 to 1970.
The primary colour of the $7 commemorative banknote is blue, synonymous with the Fiji Flag.The front of the note is vertically oriented to complement the front designs.Fiji Rugby 7s Olympic Captain Mr. Osea Kolinisau OF is featured as the main image with the Fiji flag in the background, a reminder not only of Fiji national identity, but also that Mr Kolinisau was Team Fiji’s flag bearer at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Rugby sevens (commonly known as simply sevens), and originally known as seven-a-side rugby, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40 minute halves. Rugby sevens is administered by World Rugby, the body responsible for rugby union worldwide. The game is popular at all levels, with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months. Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby, and is popular in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and especially in the South Pacific.
Rugby sevens originated in Melrose, Scotland in the 1880s; the Melrose Sevens tournament is still played annually. The popularity of rugby sevens increased further with the development of the Hong Kong Sevens in the 1970s and was later followed by the inclusion of the sport into the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 1998 and the establishment of the annual World Rugby Sevens Series in 1999 and the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series in 2012. In 2016, rugby sevens was contested in the Summer Olympics for the first time. It has also been played in regional events such as the Pan American Games and the Asian Games, and in 2018 a women's tournament was played for the first time at the Commonwealth Games.
In lower right corner is the coat of arms.
Was granted by Royal Letters Patent on 4 July 1908. It was featured on the colonial ensign and its shield remains on the current flag of Fiji.
The colours and objects on the coat of arms carry cultural, political, and regional meanings. The Cross of St. George-which divides the shield quarterly-and the golden lion at the top represent the United Kingdom, the former colonial power that ruled over Fiji. The cacao pod held in the lion's paw, along with the sugarcane, coconut palm and bananas occupying three of the four quadrants, represent the country's natural resources, since these are key agricultural crops in Fiji. The bottom left quadrant contains a dove that symbolizes peace - this was utilized on the country's flag during the reign of King Cakobau, whose government was the last before the commencement of British rule.
The crest at the top depicts a takia - a traditional Fijian canoe - while the supporters grasping the shield on both sides are Fijian warriors. According to legend, they are twins - the older brother is clutching a spear, while the younger one holds a war club. At the bottom is the country's motto - Fear God and honour the Queen (Rerevaka na kalou ka doka na Tui).
Fiji Rugby 7s Olympic Coach Mr. Ben Ryan CF sitting on the Sigatoka Sand Dunes in pensive thought mode is featured as a sub-image. On its background is shown the vector game plan of the national team, drawn up by him.
THE sand dunes were used by former national sevens coach Ben Ryan to gauge the fitness of his players and test their recovery times.
With the intensity of the HSBC World Sevens Series because of back to back tournaments, he usually selected players who needed lesser time to recover. Current national sevens captain, Jerry Tuwai always excelled at the dunes.
Before the team’s departure for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Ryan used the dunes to pick his final players.
On that early morning, he made the decision to drop forward Pio Tuwai who was struggling by the second dune. In fact, Tuwai as Ryan will tell in his book, Sevens Heaven was missing camp due to, as we were told then, injuries. At one point he was thought to be overcome by witchcraft after suffering seizures in camp. Ryan tells a bit of this in his book.
Due to be released this week, Sevens Heaven talks about the challenges faced by a national sevens coach in Fiji and how players were selected based on their performance on and off the field.
Ryan talks about why some players who were dropped because of their performance off field. Like how Jarryd Hayne played in the London 7s in 2016 because Ryan really didn’t have a choice as he had to suspend one player who had violated the alcohol ban after the Paris 7s and another who was supposedly injured.
But while Ryan is supposedly telling all in this book, there are some stories he can’t tell because of legal reasons. Seven Heaven will be available in Fiji in Prouds and MHs stores.
Here is an excerpt of the book:
SIGATOKA SAND DUNES
Sigatoka was perfect – 30 or 40 different dunes, hundreds of different angles and inclines for the players to run up, some of the slopes a gradual burn of 400-odd metres, others so sheer that the only way up them was to claw at them with hands as well as feet, slipping all the time you tried to move forward, sliding backwards inexorably if you ever thought about stopping for a breather.
The sand was harder where the onshore winds had battered it, a thin crust on top if a sea mist had settled overnight.
Shards of ancient pottery or stone tools were occasionally exposed by a big storm.
We would wake the boys hours before sunrise to get across from our usual training base in Pacific Harbour.
By 5.30 a.m. we would be climbing the dunes, the players still half-asleep, dragging all their kit behind them.
Silhouetted against the purple dawn clouds, smoke drifting up from little villages cut into the forest as fires were started for breakfast, the sound of kids squealing and crying carried with it if the wind was coming the right way.
Standing at the top, chests going in and out like bellows.
Looking one way to the South Pacific and its white breakers on the vast rolling blue, rip tides along the wide beach and sharks in the drop-off beyond.
Looking north across the rolling forests and up into the hills and the mountains.
The first time we walked up I thought Ropate was going to have a heart attack. I wasn’t too confident about myself. One ascent even at an easy pace, and you couldn’t imagine doing anything else all day.
It made no difference how fit you were. That first dune would get you every time.
Then your body would get used to the sliding and the effort and the technique, and the sea breeze would dry off the sweat, and you could think about going again.
We would put plastic markers down to set a route.
It was almost like a golf course: here’s your first hole, 200 yards uphill; here’s a horrible second, straight up that; the third, you’ll have no recovery, and your hands will be shaking and your heart trying to escape your chest as you go again.
Some of the players would sprint with a rugby ball in their hands, some in pairs, competing against each other, sometimes linked arm in arm.
Percy Cerutty had spoken proudly of Herb Elliott’s 11-second ascent of an 80-foot sand dune in Portsea.
Sigatoka had monsters compared to those tame Victorian elevations.
Dark-brown trails would smear up the dunes as the players’ churning feet broke the sunbaked surface, weird shapes and symbols carved into the sand like the Nazca lines.
Their black shirts would turn white as sand grains stuck to sweating arms and backs, eyes popping with effort after effort, staggering from marker to marker, like sand-covered zombies somewhere between life and death.
It was wonderful training.
The only way to keep moving was to drive with your knees and arms, honing a sprinter’s technique that would make you fly across flat grass.
There was less impact through your feet and hips and back, so fewer injuries, building instinctive proprioception because of those bare feet and constant minute adjustments to the treacherous sand, developing balance and reaction even as your lungs were burning and the lactic acid was flooding your quads and calves.
Sometimes we were two and a half hours up there.
By the end the boys were strewn around like they’d been dropped from the skies, face down, limbs spread. It was the most brutal training I had ever seen. (www.fijitimes.com.fj)
Revers:
On background are Fiji patterns.
Fiji Rugby 7s Gold Olympians with Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama and team officials. The photo made in 2016, at Olympic games in Rio-de-Janeiro, after the presentation of medals.
Domodomo (canoe masthead), in top right corner, as registration device.
The larger, massive domodomo (horned masthead) comes from the last ocean going double hulled canoe, called the Ramarama, a final link in a chain of great drua of the same name, built for the Tui Cakau by his mataitoga, the descendants of a clan of Samoan canoe builders (the Lemaki) who were brought to Fiji from Tonga in the late 1700s. The final Ramarama was built between 1872 and 1877, drua of her size and quality generally being under construction for 5-7 years. On completion she was presented by the Tui Cakau to Ratu Seru Cakobau, Vunivalu of Bau. After Ratu Cakobau’s death in 1883 she was returned to Somosomo where she finally decayed and was broken up in 1892. The main hull of the Ramarama was 30.2 meters long, the total length of the mast 19.8 meters and this domodomo is 4.3 meters long.
The smaller domodomo is about 2 meters long and would have come from a drua or camakau about 15 meters long. The hardwood Intsia bijuga (vesi) masthead was lashed to a mast made of a much springier wood. (virtual.fijimuseum.org.fj)
Comments:
The serial numbers of the banknote are vertically and horizontally oriented in red and blue fonts respectively with the prefix AU, the chemical symbol for Gold.
A STARsheen® 2mm security thread has also been incorporated with the words ‘FIJI 7s GOLD OLYMPIANS’.
When viewed at an angle, the numeral ‘7’ and a rugby goal post with a rugby ball can be seen. These designs, together with a gold medal around Captain’s neck, fluoresce to green when viewed under an ultra violet light.
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