Miles to have team in Lae league

 By JUNIOR UKAHA
THE Miles area in Lae will have a new team in the Lae Rugby League competition next year.
This follows the part registration of the club and the presentation of new jumpers by the Wampar local level government last Sunday.
Wampar LLG president Michael Poane came on board to assist the Miles community after they had written to him seeking assistance to send a team into the Lae league competition.
Poane bought new jersey sets for their team Miles United and presented a cheque for K6499 to the Miles off-season rugby league competition to pay the registration fee for the team and host grand final matches for their off-season tournament. Part of the Miles area, starting from 5-Mile to 14-Mile, is located in Poane’s Wampar LLG in the Huon Gulf district.
When presenting the jerseys to the club, Poane said: “My aim of supporting this club is to identify youths with potential talent and push them forward.
“The other reason why I am supporting the Miles United team and the off-season competition is to keep youths busy and away from unlawful activities.”
Poane said the funds to support the team were from his unconditional grants and aimed at supporting sports and developing the LLG’s human resources through sports.
Miles United interim president Mike Alex thanked Poane for the sponsorship and assured him that the funds would be put to good use.
Alex said Wampar LLG was the third and major sponsor of the Miles off-season tournament and Miles United after Commercial Training College and Zilu Scientific had assisted the club earlier.
Alex said the aim of sending a Miles team into the Lae competition was to expose raw talents in the area to professional football and hopefully get a few of them selected by Digicel Cup teams.
“We do not have any big name players in this competition and our club but we are trying to expose our youths to professional football. We have met all the requirements of the LRL competition and we will send in our team next season,” Alex said.