39 teams affiliate

 By JACK AMI

THIRTY-nine teams from 14 affiliates will participate in the Sept 18-20 National Touch Championships in Kokopo.

Touch Papua New Guinea secretary-general Ses Lae confirmed that the East New Britain Touch Association schedule will proceed as planned.

“This is very tight, with 172 games to be played over three days which is 58 games per day and we will not entertain last-minute affiliation from the centres who missed the deadline.”

All affiliations for the 2015 tournament closed at the end of July. 

TFPNG maintains its original stance despite various requests.

“Those who missed out can wait until December to affiliate for 2016. 

“We do accept that this decision is hard on some but it’s about time there was some discipline in the way we do things.

“For the good of our sport, let’s leave behind culture of doing last-minute things,” Lae said. 

“The ENB provincial administration is supporting the event and is committed,” he said.

“There is no issue on the climate and environment and no fear of the volcano activities in Kokopo,” Lae said.

The elite open division (men, women and mixed) allows entries from direct affiliates of TFPNG. 

Second teams like CTPM development team and ENB development teams from LLGs  (affiliates of ENBTA) will be pooled in another open division, known as the T League, a system used in the NTL in Australia. “We do not expect all to agree to this new format but at least it accommodates the need for development of the code in that province and also sets something new that could be adopted in our sport in future,” said Lae. “Touch football has so much potential in terms of talent in the New Guinea Islands and one of the reasons the TFPNG agreed on for Kokopo to host the national championship was to promote the sport there.”