Sixteen teams set to compete in Koairi-Vanapa Brown Rugby League comp

By KELVIN JOE
SIXTEEN clubs have been confirmed for the new Koairi-Vanapa Brown Rugby League competition which kicks off next month in Central’s Kairuku-Hiri, according to interim treasurer Jackson Komba.
He said the clubs had completed registration and paid their fees.
“Sixteen clubs are ready to compete in the A-Grade and Under-20 divisions which are set to kick off at Goldie Barracks early next month,” Komba said.
“Thirteen clubs paid their registration fee of K500 last week.”
Komba said the remaining three would hopefully pay theirs this week.
He said league patron and Kairuku-Hiri MP Peter Isoaimo would launched the competition during a nines tournament next weekend.
“The nines tournament will start next week as we focus on preparing and putting our development strategy in place to ensure compliance under the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League,” Komba said. “The strategy is to develop and expose youths in the electorate to provincial and national competitions and tournaments.”
Meanwhile, Koairi Rugby League president Walo Auda said the competition would run for 15 weeks.
He said 12 clubs would come from each ward area in Trans-Vanapa Brown while the Lower Koairi local-level government area will field four.
Auda said the aim of the competition was to develop young players and give them an opportunity to be exposed to the Digicel Cup, Papua New Guinea’s premier rugby league competition.