Fox elected PNGRFL chairman at Lae AGM

 By GABRIEL LAHOC

DON Fox was elected the new chairman of the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League by an overwhelming 63 votes in the annual general meeting in Lae last Friday at the Melanesian Hotel.

John Numapo as the only rival for the PNGRFL chairmanship received only a single vote, while Tsandis Saka as the lone nominee for the position of deputy chairman automatically became the assistant to Fox.

The veteran rugby league administrator pledged on behalf of his office to promote stability, sound administration and closely work with the regional and provincial leagues after his election in the closed-door AGM which was attended by Minister for Sports, Pacific Games and National Events Justin Tkatchenko and vice-minister Labi Amaiu as.

“What I would like to do is continue the way we are going. 

“I think the most important thing we can give rugby league is stability, good administration and keep talking to the people that matter the chairmen of the leagues around the country,” Fox (pictured) said in his first media interview on Friday after coming out of the AGM.

“What we will continue to do is have our board meetings in various parts of Papua New Guinea, as in the past we found them to be very beneficial, we can talk face to face with people and see what their problems and issues are,” he said.

Another key programme that will be continued with top priority is the preparations for the rugby league World Cup.

The chairman elect hailed the AGM which apart from the smooth election process administered by Morobe provincial elections manager Simon Sinai also featured the adoption of the new PNGRFL constitution which administratively is seen as straight forward and in line with modern day practices.

“What happened this morning really is with the adoption of the new constitution, is a milestone after 39 years of the PNGRFL’s existence and now a workable document that is now much more easy to understand by the ordinary people and the leagues around the country,” he said.

“It won’t be difficult to work under the new constitution at all in fact we are looking forward to it,” Fox said of the constitution is expected to minimise the type of debilitating issues faced under the old constitution.

Fox also acknowledged the administration of the Papua New Guinea Rugby League Foundation (PNGRLF) whose chief executive officer Brad Tassell was also present with him during the interview.

“Yes, we are excited about the next three years there was a lot of difficult and hard work over the last six months but without us having the rugby league foundation on board as our administrator it would not have been possible and for that we are very thankful,” Fox said.

A blanket review will be carried out by the Fox administration which will now make sure that all its affiliated leagues around the country are operating soundly especially their management.

Lawyer Robert Bradshaw was also present at the AGM to answer in simple terms to queries from the presidents in regards to the constitution which his law firm Bradshaw and Partners help draft.

While the new administration is aware of its enormous task the assurance by Tkatchenko of the government’s support on top of sponsorships from the private sector has boosted their morale and the affiliates.