Meeting to chart a way forward

Greetings to all our rugby league family and welcome to our 10th edition of Fulltime Reserve, a weekly column to discuss all matters rugby league in our favourite newspaper The National.
The new Papua New Guinea Rugby League (PNGRFL) board will have its first meeting in Port Moresby on Sunday.
This meeting whilst being an introduction for the new confederate directors, the board will also be required to make some important decisions on the future of rugby league.
In the short-term will be the approval of the revised domestic and international calendar for this year’s rugby league programmes, including the endorsement of the revised “Banis Protocols”, for all affiliate leagues and competitions throughout PNG.
PNGRFL will then advise our stakeholders across the country on the start of all other programmes once they have complied with the requirements of the “Banis Protocols” for the “new normal” and clearance is sought for these competitions from relevant authorities in line with the new Public Health Emergency Act.
PNGRFL will also be required to approve and endorse some major policy matters across all our six-tier competition structure to improve the management and governance of PNGRFL that have been finalised following the recent annual general meeting (AGM).
The board is also expected to make decisions on the schedules and dates for the confederate meetings that the new board committed to convene following the conclusion of the AGM.
This consultations and meetings are important as we plan to strengthen governance and management of the sport at the confederate and affiliate league level, which has been lacking.
Whilst PNGRFL has adopted and implemented international best practices in management and governance at the national level, the lack of improvement in governance and management at the confederate level and lower tiers of our rugby league programmes impeded their growth.
PNGRFL will now move to ensure that the processes and systems that have been implemented at the national level are transferred and replicated at the confederate and local Level.
This is important for the sport to develop and attract corporate, government and international partners at the confederate and local level.
To do this, the confederates and affiliate leagues need to ensure that their governance and management structures and processes maintain integrity and promote good governance.
These and other deliberations the PNGRFL board makes this weekend will set the foundation for the growth of the sport and we hope to announce these decisions in the next few weeks.
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Cheers,
Sandis