Port Moresby league defers season to prepare

THE Port Moresby Rugby Football League has deferred its season kick-off to July 17 to prepare facilities to host games under the new Covid-19 guidelines.
League football operations manager and administrator Meke Maino said the intended start date on July 10 (Friday) was deferred to give time for officials to prepare screening tents, emergency bays, temperature guns and hand sanitisers.
“The set-up on the ground must be there before we start because the equipment is necessary to comply with the guidelines,” Maino said.
“The first three weekends will have no spectators because everyone will be new to the situation.
“We need to get the clubs and players to get used to it first before we can consider spectators.
“Another thing we need to do first is have a crash course for those who will be manning the gates and monitoring the movement of players and officials on game day.
“We have a lot of teams across three divisions.
“There’s going to be 21 games in one weekend so we’re considering a Friday start.
“The draws are done and all we have to do is have a meeting with the clubs so that they are informed of the draws and the game-day requirements.”
Maino confirmed that they had received a certificate of approval from the Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation to host matches this season.
The league intends to have 18 rounds of matches before the finals with the season scheduled to end in October.