Kimbe Cutters enter bid for Digicel Cup

Sports

By MELTON PAIS
WEST New Britain Governor Sasindran Muthuvel declared his government would back having a team in the 2019 Digicel Cup rugby league competition.
WNB’s new Digicel Cup team, the Kimbe Cutters committee members headed by Dominic Kile presented their bid to the PNG National Rugby League Competition director Stanley Hondina with the K100,000 registration fee last week.
The province is not new to the semi-pro competition, they had a team in the mid 1990s called the Kimbe Bulls.
Their purpose of re-entering the Digicel cup next year is to open their talent pool to for the PNGRFL programmes: the Hunters and Kumuls.
Governor Muthuvel, who is the Cutters patron, said he would push to get the Kimbe Cutters into the Digicel Cup next year to give an opportunity to the local players to experience and the Digicel Cup level.
Muthuvel said with the province had the talent and infrastructure to have a Digicel Cup team.
The province is home of the country’s biggest hopme grown NRL star in Marcus Bai.
“Getting the Cutters in as a great opportunity for us to showcase our talent,” Muthuvel said said.
“The New Guinea Island region has only one team in the Digicel Cup which is the Agmark Gurias and Cutters should be the second team not only to represent the province but the region as well.
“As the provincial government, we will back the Cutters board and establish the bidding and initial process of taking the team into the semi-professional competition.”
Muthuvel also called on business operating in the province and around PNG to back the franchise.
Bid chairman Kile said the Cutters idea had started in 2016 and he was pleased they had done the ground work to launch a team.
“We’ve got a home ground in Kimbe and we have a junior development programme and we’re looking at meeting all the bid requirements PNGNRLC,” Kile said.
Hondina commended the Cutters committee for submitting their bid to the PNGNRLC a day before the deadline.
Hondina said the Cutters bid would be considered and a response given in two weeks.
Two West New Britain Community representatives, Air Niugini’s Dominic Kaumu and Central Bank Governor Loi Bakani were also present to witness the submission of the 2019 bid for Kimbe Cutters to PNGNRLC.