New president Siwi aims to improve rugby union

PAPUA New Guinea Rugby Union has set its sights on re-establishing the code in the country, says new president Paul Siwi.
He was announced as the successful presidential candidate following the union’s annual general meeting that was hosted via a Zoom conference in Port Moresby last weekend.
Siwi told The National yesterday that domestic rugby union was in need of an overhaul with his priorities for the new board to look into fixing the systems of the game.
“Rugby union is not what we think it is, it’s on life support, we need to re-establish the office, and set the foundations right, fix the processes, and get the systems working,” he said.
“Get the provincial unions involved.
“Once we know what rugby union is in the provinces and what has been happening, we can then use the data and statistics to establish how much money we need to run the sport and start looking for money to run it.”
Siwi said PNG’s commitment to international events and tournaments in the future would be determined by how the game within the country was progressing.
“Before we go international, we need to fix the game internally first,” he said.
“So there really is much work that needs to be done, we will not rush into it. “We will start from the basic and work our way up.
“We want to establish a rugby union-functioning office that will be in operation even when we’re (current board) gone.”
Meanwhile, the meeting saw National Capital District governor Powes Parkop elected as the union’s patron while East New Britain rugby union president Andrew Ani was voted in as vice-president.