Ontrack Tribes boycott touch grand finals

By JACK AMI
Ontrack Tribes have agreed to boycott the Corporate Touch Port Moresby (CTPM) grand finals on Sunday.
According to women’s team member Grace Kouba, the boycott comes after a dispute by their semifinal opponents over an Ontrack Tribes try last weekend was upheld by the competition.
She said the boycott was to protect the image of their corporate sponsor and also uphold the competition rules.
“A dispute is constitutionally for and can be addressed by the judiciary but there can be no dispute against referee’s decision,” Kouba said.
“We all know that the referee’s decision is final, whether it’s right or wrong.
“The Touch Football Papua New Guinea constitution and bylaws stipulate that there can be no appeal against the refereeing decisions.
“This is a breach of the competition rules.
“The referee’s decision was disputed by our opponents and the CTPM executives overruled it and called for a rematch.
“We do not have any differences with our opponents but CTPM’s decision will set the wrong precedent.
“We’ve decided not to participate in the grand finals despite having our open men’s, open mixed and boys’ teams in the deciders.
“Even though we have several elites in the national men’s and women’s teams, we want to safeguard the code and not set the wrong precedent.”