Put sport first, PNGRL told

 By JACK AMI

SPORTS and Tourism Minister Justin Tkatchenko has urged affiliates of PNG Rugby Football League to discourage  personal gain in the sport.

The no-nonsense minister told the PNGRFL annual general meeting attended by 44 affiliates at Bluff Inn hotel outside Port Moresby on Saturday that team work was important to develop sporting codes in the country.

After his presentation, Tkatchenko declared the AGM open and soon after left for other commitments.

Tkatchenko said the reason sports in the country failed was because of shellfish individuals who liked to control everything. He encouraged team work. 

 “This attitude is bad for sports in the country as it benefits only selfish individuals, which is not good for the code in the country,” Tkatchenko said.

He told league officials to do everything together as a team to ensure that things worked out the way everyone wanted.

Tkatchenko commended the PNGRFL board and newly-appointed chief executive officer Bob Cutmore for moving things forward in a transparent and professional manner with a promising future ahead.

He said rugby league was a well organised and managed sport in the country. 

He said since 2012, the Government intervened to get the sport to the stage it was now at and he looked forward to 2017 when the World Cup would be staged in Port Moresby.

“There has been an amazing transformation of sporting codes with the two world class stadiums – the National Football Stadium and Sir John Guise Stadium.”

Tkatchenko said he had done everything for rugby league as the minister responsible, ensuring it moved forward unlike other codes in the country.