Digicel Cup trophy unveiled for 2011

 By HENRY MORABANG

THE major sponsors of the semi-professional rugby league challenge in PNG, Digicel, yesterday unveiled the newly-commissioned Digicel Cup trophy, which looks set to become the most coveted trophy in PNG sport.

The new perpetual Digicel Cup was designed to be a contemporary take on the traditional kundu drum, with a prestigeous look and feel reflecting the achievement of winning PNG’s premier rugby league tournament.

Hela Wigmen’s centre Richard Kambo, who was among the player representatives at the unveiling, said: “I really like the Digicel Cup, it reflects our traditional and symbolic kundu drum, which is a very important part of our people’s culture.”   

Asked if Hela Wigmen would be the first team to lift the Cup, Kambo was optimistic saying: “Looking at the Digicel Cup ladder and, as a new franchise, Hela Wigmen may not be in the running to lift the new Cup, but as PNG is the land of the unexpected, anything is possible.”

Representing the SNS Vipers, captain Peter Paulus said: “The trophy looks fantastic and it is certainly our ambition to try and  be the first team to lift the new Digicel Cup. We will take another step towards  the final this Sunday when we aim to smash the Gurias in Port Moresby.”

The Digicel Cup trophy will be taken on a tour of Digicel stores nationwide in the months ahead and will be on display at Digicel Cup matches to promote the tournament and teams in each region, before it is presented to the first winning captain at the inaugural Digicel Cup grand final on Oct 9. 

Digicel became title partners to the PNG National Rugby League tournament in April, in an agreement which has seen the Digicel Cup grow to 10 franchise teams competing in 96 matches across seven towns and cities.  

Digicel operations director Lorna McPherson said: “When we took over as title sponsors, we wanted to create a trophy that reflected the level of commitment and top class quality rugby league that the Digicel Cup players and teams demonstrate week-in week-out as they battle for what is the most competitive and hard fought honour in PNG sport.