Schools comp warns players

By JACK AMI
A ‘big problem’ facing the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League’s (PNGRFL) national schools competition is trying to get players to compete in their correct age groups, officials say.
PNGRFL Coca-Cola National School Rugby League manager Arnold Krewanty and national competition manager Toksy Nema said the players’ age needed to be verified and confirmed through the provision of birth certificates and national identifications (NID) cards.
“This is a big problem in the schools competitions throughout the country,” Krewanty said.
“We really need to get the system right in order to encourage and promote fair play in all the divisions.
“We are still seeing a lot of over-aged players playing in the Under-14, U16 and U18 boys, and open-girls divisions.”
Krewanty said parental consent needed to be obtained to verify their children’s ages and “not to cheat to allow their over-aged kids to play against much younger players”.
He said parents should do their bit in helping the competition promote fair play “otherwise, we will start directing players to present their birth certificates and NID cards to verify their ages”.
Nema said it was a problem in rugby league every year.
“We have to be honest with our ages to allow fair play in all divisions,” he said.
“We cannot have over-aged players playing against younger players which is totally unfair on the game and competition.
“This is something that we will address and look at ways to improve our system for the benefit of the competition and the players.”
Meanwhile, the final leg of the Coca-Cola National Schools Rugby League Regional Championships was held at the National Football Stadium last week (June 26-27).
The national championships will be staged in Port Moresby from July 22-27.