Protocols for ‘new normal’

The National Sports

Greetings to all our rugby league family and welcome to our sixth edition of Fulltime Reserve, a weekly column to discuss all matters rugby league in our favourite newspaper The National.
Last week, the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League (PNGRFL) made a submission to the state of emergency (SOE) controller on our plans for a revised season.
The submission presented two key areas:

  • The planned revised season for all domestic and international rugby league competitions and programmes across our six tiers; and,
  • The “Banis Protocols” outlining the public health safety guidelines under which all rugby league competitions and programmes will be managed and delivered.

Over the last few weeks, PNGRFL has engaged with all its stakeholders on the revised programme and the protocols that provide the guidelines for rugby league’s “new normal”.
PNGRFL has been privileged to have our own team led by Dr Gideon Kendino and Dr James Naipao who have collaborated with our football operations team, led by Stanley Hondina and Kumuls head coach Michael Marum, to develop the protocols.
The protocols mirror the Australian National Rugby League’s (NRL) “Apollo Project” which PNGRFL has adopted to suit our football environment.
The protocols set the guidelines for all programme organisers, venue managers, event coordinators, match officials, team officials, players and the public to follow prior to, during and after game day.
PNGRFL is encouraged by the commitment of all our partners and sponsors across our six-tier competition structures, who have committed to continue their ties with the governing body to deliver the revised season.
Last week, South Pacific Brewery, our longtime rugby league supporter, committed to support PNGRFL in its revised plan.
Over the next few weeks, we look forward to announcing the commitment of all our other partners in the game.
We also look forward to some positive feedback from the SOE controller and the relevant state agencies on our revised plans.
Over the next four weeks, PNGRFL will be engaging with its partners to map out the revised programmes under the new protocols.
We thank all our members who have joined us on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages which has weekly visits of more than 100,000 across all our platforms and continues to grow.
The Halftime show with the Fulltime Reserve is also a big hit with our followers and at 12pm today, we speak to PNG LNG Kumul No.274 Justin Olam, who plays with the Melbourne Storm in Australia.
We can also be contacted on [email protected] to provide feedback on issues covered in this column weekly or ask questions on matters that you would like us to discuss.
Until next week, may the grace, love and care of our Good Lord be with you.

Cheers,
Sandis