Amean clears air on claim
Kumul back not joining Hunters, stays back for family
PNG Kumul Stargroth Amean says he has not signed with the PNG Hunters after reports from the UK that his club Barrow Raiders expect compensation if he returns to the Intrust Super Cup.
A report by The Mail said Amean was set to join Matthew Church’s Hunters squad after the 28-year-old back announced he would not be returning to England.
Amean cited family reasons for staying home in PNG after becoming a key figure in his one season with the Raiders, who had booked his flight back to England before he told them his decision.
Amean, who won a premiership with the Hunters in 2017, said he had no intention of playing for the Hunters while he was still officially contracted to the Raiders.
The fullback said he been allowed to train with the Hunters to maintain his fitness and help motivate the new squad.
“I spoke to Hunters head coach Matthew Church and he accepted my willingness to contribute and assist the backs in their preparations for the Intrust Super Cup,” Amean said. “As a professional athlete I have to maintain my fitness. I’m not stupid enough to sign another contract while still under contract with Barrow.”
Amean said speculation on social media had fuelled the UK report.
“This is all speculation on Facebook that some sports reporter picked up and published which is misleading,” he said.
Barrow are reportedly looking to be reimbursed for their expenses.
“We can’t do anything about it and it happens at every single club — it’s nothing new that somebody drops out at the last minute or decides they don’t want to play, or whatever,” Raiders head coach Paul Crarey said.
“But it’s a big blow because we’d paid for his flights, paid for visas and we’d given him more time when he wanted more time with his family, and now he’s gone.
“We don’t know whether the Hunters have signed him, but it’s all over Facebook, so I don’t know how that can work, with him being contracted to us. Whether they pay us a fee I don’t know.”
Crarey said Barrow chairman Steve Neale had been in touch with the RFL about Amean’s situation and how it had affected the club.
“We’ve been left real short by his decision not to come,” Neale said.
“I just think that if he’s going to sign for another club then I think we should be compensated for the amount of effort that we’ve put in and the money that we’ve outlaid.”
Meanwhile, Amean maintained that he wanted to play for the Raiders but had to withdraw to take care of his family.
“I was still interested in playing for Barrow but it was just unfortunate because I had to put my family first rather than going over to the other side of the world,” Amean said.
“Barrow has supported me which I am grateful for but I had to cut my contract and stay because of family reasons.”
Amean said he had not been interviewed by the local media and because he was seen training with the Hunters assumptions had been made.
Amean said he had one more year to go on his contract but decided to forgo it in order to be with his four-year-old son and partner.
15 comments
We need to understand the guy. He needs to be emotionally strong like not to be worried about his family while playing league far faraway. Leaving family and home is a big ask. Any ways how long is he willing to sacrifice? As they say no pain no gain.
Family is important, fix your yourself first especially background because practical rugby won’t guarantee real full life fulfillment or other words it won’t bring greater success.
Cheers
Very unprofessional for him and obviously will affect future players to England to play. James Segeyaro and Gary Lo did the same thing; leaving their clubs in limbo. I work in England and its unfortunate for future PNG players who will not be recruited.
Disgraceful, from a ‘ professional player’ why can’t he take the family over there?
Leaving a very young family behind to pursue rugby league in a different part of the world is quite challenging. After all family is an integral part of a man’s life and must be protected and taken care of at all cost. He has made an individual decision and that will not affect the future of rugby league players in PNG. We must respect his bold decision.
Maybe if his family was with him in England would have changed things. Working overseas without your family support, especially a young family is not an easy task. I lived in Japan for 3 years – I took my young family with me. Now I am working in the Federated States of Micronesia, I took my family with me.
I think most important thing in life is your family. But you’ve already raised your hands and signed a contract to play for the club, well you ave to feel the pain and sacrifice for your loyalty that you’ve promised to do while signing the contract.
With a respect to Amean’s decision, as for me I would say it a wrong decision. You are showing a bad picture to the overseas club who will be interested in signing our upcoming players to be contracted and play over there.
Just one more year come on.
If he’d thought of his family would have gone back to England. There are thousands of people leaving their countries and working overseas so they could support their family back home. He is no different. I hope he finds a decent job here in PNG that offers high pay for uneducated rugby players.
Its a continuing trend that when Papua New Guinea players are contracted to play overseas,they tend to cut short their lucrative contracts citing family issues. Look at previous players in recent years.None of them have managed to see out their contract duration.I believe that it is just plain laziness and the fear of hard work.Today’s generation cannot bear to get their hands dirty for a better life.Why take the journey in the first place if you knew you were not going to go the distance or even meet your employer half way.I see the reason now PNG players are not the most sought after because of their mentality and attitude.
Those clubs contracting players should consider their family too and include them in their package, its really a psychology killing thing staying the whole year on the other side of the world with out their families..
Thats pretty crazy this days,..
I respect Amean’s decision to turn down a year deal for his young family. Family is the most important thing in one’s life. Listerning to your heart and following your heart is the right thing to do as long as it brings peace and happiness to you.
Every individual league player who gets a lifetime opportunity to play on contract for an overseas club is a real privilege. It is quite disgraceful for 2 or 3 PNG players to be in such a similar situation. Not a very promising trend for future PNG players.
The guy is a UPNG graduate. About 90% or most png hunters & rugby league players in the country are university students or students in other institutions & professionals in jobs across the Digicel & local league competitions. I don’t think any rugby league players are uneducated.
Was Ithis family matter discussed during the recruitment process?Why has it risen at this period?The concerned parties should look into it to avoid the same in future. and for future players and league dvelopment
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