That is the tough stance taken by the PNG National Rugby League (PNGNRL) board to safeguard the interests of the nationwide premier competition and its players.
The drawing of top players from the Digicel Cup is deemed to be depleting their stocks to run a viable competition. The PNGNRL, which runs the Digicel Cup is an independent body, self-financed and managed solely by the franchises and business houses appointed board and management. Board chairman Sudhir Guru yesterday made it clear to PNG rugby league followers nationwide and abroad that until the sports governing body defines clearly where the PNGNRL fits in their structure, there would be no player movement both ways. “On top of that the PNGNRL wants to know issues like what resources will the PNGRFL provide and what do they take, infrastructures, referee’s and players…there must be a very defined role as to where we stand if we are to come under one umbrella,” Guru said. “We have not placed sanctions, we agreed for the Hunters initially to take 25 to 30 players and they did that anyway without any notification.” “You are either a Hunter or a Digicel Cup player,” Guru maintained. Guru said the board believed it was not in the best interests of promoting those new players that have filled in the gaps for those Hunters players and those new ones that have broken through because of the void, by allowing Hunters players back to play for their clubs. “Until such time where there are over 100 Hunters players on their roster, then the status quo will remain until an amicable solution is agreed upon between all parties concerned.” Guru said at this stage there was no clear demarcation set by the PNGRFL as to the Digicel Cup being used to draw its players from. “Don’t get us wrong, we support the PNGRFL and its new way forward under board chairman Sandis Tsaka, but we are a self-funded entity with business interests that have played a caretaker role for the inter-city competition for the past 20 years.” Guru said that it was not the board’s view to be seen as creating a bottle-neck for the rugby league pathway, we just want to ensure there are proper guidelines set and for that to happen the PNGRFL has already been tasked to offer a solution. Guru confirmed that they had had recent talks with Tsaka and basically told the PNGRFL to define the relationship as the franchises and business houses that hold up the Digicel Cup spend in the region of K20 million a year on running the competition. He said they had suggested that a workshop be staged where all parties can share ideas with the aim of working together. When queried on the issue, Tsaka said they do respect the PNGNRL board’s issues with regards to the loss of marquee players based on the belief that they need to run a quality competition to maintain a high standard. “We understand the predicament and are working to address it,” Tsaka said. Tsaka said the issue was a major concern for the South Pacific Brewery-sponsored Hunters who do not have an under-20 competition or junior programme and no feeder clubs like other teams in the Queensland Cup competition. He confirmed that they hope to resolve the issue as soon as possiblewith the aim to strengthen the working relationship between the PNGRFL and PNGNRL. Comments are closed.
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