League gets MP

By KEITH PUARIA
SPORTS Minister Justin Tkatchenko will hand over the responsibility of getting rugby league’s house in order to his Vice-Minister and former Port Moresby rugby league chairman Labi Amaiu.
Tkatchenko confirmed this at the formal presentation of Telikom’s K500,000 sponsorship of the Kumuls last Friday, ahead of the PNG and Australian Prime Minister’s XIII match on Sept 23.
“What better person to provide direction for where we want to take rugby league from the state it is at currently,” Tkatchenko said of his deputy.
“Vice-Minister Amaiu comes with years of experience and association with the sport, especially at the helm of the premier competition in the country.
“We want to go about putting a good team in place for the future growth of the game and the minster will be directly responsible.”
Amaiu will have to sift through at least five years of fractured relationships between the code’s regions as well as a restructuring and or resurrecting PNGRFL development programmes and opening up the regional offices.
Amaiu while thanking Telikom also extended gratitude to support sponsors National Gaming Control Board (NGCB), and Motor Vehicle Insurance Ltd (MVIL).
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“I hope this money will be put into good use, I thank the minister for the trust and pledge my full support in our drive to guide rugby league through,” Amaiu said.
 PNGRFL interim administrator Ivan Ravu also admitted that the state of the game was a direct result of the on-going conflicts within the administration, but added that any work to ‘fix’ rugby league may have to wait until after the Prime Ministers XIII fixture.
“Right now the PMs XIII event is the priority, and there is a lot of work to be done,” Ravu said.
“We will need the help of volunteers, people and groups who must work together to enable us to host this game.
It’s a big event on the PNG rugby league calendar so we want to put all efforts into making this event a success, and then we can go about properly setting our house in order for before the Rugby League World Cup 2013.”
Ravu also added that besides the event, the two next major events that will follow as warm up matches for the Kumuls were, the scheduled match against Australian National Rugby League club Souths, and a mooted match against a Queensland Intrust Cup club upon the teams return from Redfern.
Other negotiation is currently underway with the United States Rugby League for possible trials with the national team.