Dabaris bid gains support from affiliates

By JACK AMI
THE Central Dabaris bid for next year’s Digicel Cup has been backed by the 17 affiliates that make up the Southern Confederation.
The league representatives made this known on day two of the regional trials at the National Football Stadium oval 2 yesterday.
Southern Confederation director Gwaibo Mairi speaking on behalf of the affiliates that the province had never been represented in the semi-professional competition despite being one of the provinces that the sport was widely played in.
Mairi said having a team from Central in the Digicel Cup would boost the code among the villages and in the districts.
“Our Southern region players are poached by outside franchises because we don’t have enough franchises to accommodate and PNGRFL should give us the green light now as we are the biggest confederation with 17 affiliates,” Mairi said.
The Dabaris are just one of three franchises believed to be set to bid for a spot in next year’s competition — the others are the Central Chiefs and Moresby Southern Blacks.
There are only two Southern franchises — Port Moresby Vipers and Gulf Ilsou — and that is why the 17 affiliates have decided to support a franchise bid from their region.
The other bids from outside the Southern region are from the New Guinea Islands: West New Britain (Kimbe Cutters) and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (Bougainville Pride).
Mairi commended Dabaris chairman Keith Henao Iduhu, chief executive officer Hubert Warupi and coach Chris Enara for their efforts in organising Central’s bid.
Iduhu was also given the honour of kicking off the senior men’s trials on Sunday.
Iduhu said his bid team’s objective was to promote the Southern region on the national stage in the Digicel Cup and to expose Papuan players.