League gets K500,000

By NATHAN WOTI
UPNG Journalism Student
MORESBY North-East Member John Kaupa announced a commitment of K500,000 as start up capital for the Port Moresby North-East Rugby League Association during the launch at City Hall yesterday.
Kaupa said the prize money for the A grade champions would be K50,000, which would be the largest winners’ prize in the city.
The Port Moresby North-East Rugby League Association will be the latest addition to the Southern Confederate under the PNG Rugby Football League (PNGRFL).
PNERLA joins the Port Moresby Rugby League, Moresby South, POM Suburban, Motu-Koita and University of PNGRFL, as the sixth league in the nation’s capital.
Chairman Sandis Tsaka and Southern Confederate director Gwaibo Mairi were present to accept the new league’s affiliation and pledged to support the competition.
Kaupa said the new league would have a stadium of its own and he was looking at a location at 8-Mile and near the Jackson International Airport for construction to start once the National Airport Corporations approved the plan.
According to Kaupa 16 teams had been approved and the competition would start next month.
He said the initiative was to benefit the electorate’s youth.
He said he was a fan of the game and had been involved in the sport before becoming a politician. He said it was his aim to have a PNGRFL affiliated league in the electorate.
Kaupa said he wanted to see the league continue with accountability and transparency in the future even if he did not return after the 2022 elections.
“It’s not about me, it is about the people of North-East,” he said.
“It is my legacy as the MP of the electorate now, and I would like to see it continue in the future.”
Kaupa said he wanted his counterparts NCD Governor Powes Parkop and Moresby South MP Justin Tkatchenko to come on board and support him with the initiative.
He said that at the end of the day it was for the people of Port Moresby and the need for the leaders to work together.