Digicel Cup bid requirements

Greetings to all our rugby league family and welcome to our 33rd edition of Fulltime Reserve, a weekly column to discuss all matters rugby league in our favourite newspaper The National.
As part of the preparations for our 2021 rugby league season, the Papua New Guinea National Rugby League Competition (PNGNRLC), this week announced the opening for bids by interested provincial franchises that want to participate in next year’s Digicel Cup season to submit their expressions of interest.
The bids opened on Monday to current and new franchises and will close next Friday before the PNGNRLC administration and board approve the final 12 franchises for the 2021 season.
The Digicel Cup provides the bridge between the amateur game and the professional league under PNGRFL’s six-tier competition structure.
For the Digicel Cup to effectively play this vital role, the provincial franchises are expected to undertake the dual role of being both a representative provincial franchise and also be the high-performance program for all local rugby league programmes with their provincial jurisdictions.
The strategic vision is for the provincial franchises to become the elite football programmes for rugby league in their area just as the SP Hunters programme is to the game generally in PNG.
To be effective in achieving the desired objectives, all PNGNRLC franchises will be required to comply with the following minimum requirements amongst others:

• Must be based in their respective home provinces and have a home stadium that complies with PNGNRLC’s minimum requirements;
• Have an independent and credible governance structure with IPA certification that illustrates public ownership of franchise by all stakeholders of the game in the province;
• Must demonstrate good long-term financial and management support for the franchise from sponsors and partners of the franchise not necessarily government; and,
• Should have the support of the game’s stakeholders within their province, including the PNGRFL affiliated leagues, their respective confederates, the local business community and their local governments.

PNGNRLC and the PNGRFL will work with all franchises that submit an expression of interest over the next few weeks to ensure that they comply with these minimum requirements.
Whilst PNGRFL would like to see the competition grow over the next five years to include more provincial franchises we are also conscious to ensure that we do not compromise the minimum standards of the competition in terms of both the quality of football played and in governance and management of the game across all levels.
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Until next week, may the grace, love and care of our Good Lord be with you.

Cheers,
Sandis