Building for the future

The National Sports

Greetings to all our rugby league family and welcome to our third edition of “Fulltime Reserve”, a weekly column on all matters rugby league in our favourite newspaper The National.
Firstly, we would like to acknowledge and commend the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of all our frontline workers in the war against the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite the obvious resource and capacity challenges, and often unfair criticisms and cynicism from some segments of our society, many of our committed men and women on the frontline continue to work hard and take huge risks to safeguard our people, communities and country.
And as such, on behalf of the rugby league family in Papua New Guinea, we commend you for your continued honourable and exemplary service.
On the rugby league front, this has been another hectic week of dialogue with all our partners and relevant state agencies as we move to lock in our programmes for the remainder of this year.
The PNG Rugby Football League (PNGRFL) has also made some strategic decisions as it moves to consolidate its operations in light of the revised calendar due to the ongoing and anticipated impact of the pandemic on its business.
As highlighted in last week’s edition, the four principles underpinning our Covid-19 response strategy are:

  • The health and welfare of our stakeholders;
  • Protecting the sports gains;
  • The sport’s commercial viability; and,
  • The sport as a partner in the pandemic response.

In line with these principles and in consultation with our partners, PNGRFL has made some key short-term decisions to streamline our operations in line with our revised calendar.
This is to ensure compliance with the State of Emergency orders and also reflect the pandemic’s impact on the sport.
In brief, PNGRFL has revamped its operations to deliver on its revised programmes, allowing some staff to work part-time whilst others have temporarily taken leave from work.
The details of these decisions will be publicised once all our partners and stakeholders are consulted and advised this week.
We’re also reviewing some of our operational structures, policies, processes and practices on the football, management and governance fronts with a view to improve them.
Until next week, may the grace, love and care of our Good Lord be with you.

Cheers,
Sandis