Kerema sports council to develop talents in Gulf

The National Sports

By JACK AMI
SPORTS in the Gulf capital recently established the Kerema Urban Sports Council to focus on developing the province’s raw talents.
Presidents of the six sporting associations in Kerema Urban LLG make up the council.
Kerema Rugby League president Emmanuel Morehari is the chairman of the newly-formed council.
Morehari’s deputy is Michael Kapera from Kerema Touch. The treasurer is Vaina Liriope (Kerema Netball). The secretary Debbie Hae (Kerema Basketball) and the president is Aisi Aua. Steven Meivila from soccer and Ila Siren (Kerema darts) are the two committee members. Chairman Morehari said other codes to start this year were Kerema Kickboxing, Kerema athletics and rugby union sevens.
The council aims to:

  • Govern and administer the development of sporting associations in the Kerema Urban;
  • Ensure all associations meet the annual affiliation and player registration requirements and implement their annual activity plans in line with their National Federation’s annual sports calendar;
  • Ensure that association presidents are working together with the sports council to address the main social issues of alcohol and drug abuse and sexual violence against women and children;
  • Ensure that all associations start their pre-season and seasons together and have their grand finals in a timely manner aligned to their regional and national programmes; and,
  • Ensure that training for referees, coaching, and sports administration were conducted.

“The sports council in Kerema Urban LLG will work together to reach out to the rural LLGs to assist them to start their competitions to align to the national development programmes,” he said.
“Together we will stand as a province with the objective of exposing our local talents in the regional and national programmes and at the PNG Games.
“We can make it happen in the town and in the province but we need support from the corporate sector in Kerema town and Gulf province to assist us with funds so we can reach out to our districts to develop sport.”
Morehari said support from stakeholders and community leaders was important to establish sports councils in each LLG as well as one for the three districts.
Morehari said the chairman of the provincial sports council needed to be a member of the Gulf Provincial Sports Trust and advocate for sports development in the provincial assembly.
He said the sports office in the Gulf provincial administration had done little in terms of reaching out to rural areas.
He said the office needed to assist with the establishment of sporting associations with the emphasis on skills training in refereeing and coaching and sports administration to raise the standard of competitions to meet national and international standards.
“I believe we can make it happen with the political support we have from Gulf Governor Chris Haiveta and Kerema Open MP Richard Mendani.”
Morehari said the council would launch its 2020 annual activity plan on April 18 in Kerema.