PNGRFL deadline looms

By JACK AMI
IT is likely that many affiliated leagues in the country will be affected by the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League (PNGRFL) player and official registration deadline set for today, according to an official.
This was brought to light during a meeting attended by the 16 Southern Confederation affiliates at the National Football Stadium on Thursday.
They are requesting that the deadline be extended to June.
Director Gwaibo Mairi is vocal about this, as it may affect the Southern Confederation where many of the competitions are rural leagues.
Mairi said in the Southern Confederation, “we have only the Port Moresby Rugby League meeting the requirement and the competition is in full swing”.
“I know other leagues throughout the country also face this (lack of player and official registration),” Mairi said.
He said a PNGRFL board meeting was supposed to verify and confirm the status of the registration last Saturday but that had now been deferred to this weekend in Port Moresby.
The confederation queried PNGRFL chairman Sandis Tsaka whether the majority of the affiliated leagues in the country had yet to comply with the registration requirement of K50 per person.
Moresby South Rugby League president Brown Murema said today’s deadline was “just too soon”.
Murema said it would also affect the annual general meeting in Mt Hagen next year if there was only a handful of active competitions in the country.
“There has to be an understanding and that is to extend the deadline for the best interest of the code in the country,” he said.
“We are the owners of PNGRFL, and the board and staff are just the custodians so we should work together.
“We know this deadline was passed at the Feb 26 annual general meeting in Lae.
“This is just too much for most of our players and officials who are mostly unemployed and students forced to dig deeper into their pockets, unless there is corporate support.”