Soccer defers meeting

THE much-anticipated Papua New Guinea Football Association Congress which was scheduled for Aug 7 has been postponed to February next year because of non-compliance by some member associations.
PNGFA secretary-general Dimirit Mileng made the announcement in a media statement on Saturday to all association presidents noting that the PNGFA executive committee in its July 2 meeting had looked at the summary of the audit reports from member associations and found that the associations’ nature of membership under PNGFA statutes was inconsistent.
Various anomalies had been identified in membership requirements and obligation such as: Annual membership fees were inconsistent (Article 14 1 (e)); Player registration fees were inconsistent and irregular (Article 14. 1h); Submission of list of registered players were not accurate or not forwarded to the PNGFA secretariat office (Article 14.1h); Competition in member associations was not consistent (Article 14.1 f,h,k).
Mileng said in light of the upcoming PNGFA Congress, a similar analysis was carried out by the Oceania Football Confederation at the PNGFA’s request of its current statutes. OFC found that the PNGFA statutes were not consistent with Fifa requirements and statutes.
He added that the OFC had also identified errors and inconsistencies and had nullified the electoral process that had been employed for the congress to convene, and states that the process is in conflict with the PNGFA statute (Article. 28.2) and furthermore, has also contravened (Article 40.3) … the nomination of candidates for the presidency and not conforming to requirement.
Mileng said the following offers had been made by the OFC advising PNGFA that it takes the opportunity to take corrective measures to review the statutes, and also those of its members to be consistent and to comply with Fifa standard statute and that of OFC.
After reviewing all these related documents, including the member association audit report and the subsequent recommendation from OFC, the PNGFA executive committee had resolved; (a) That Congress is postponed to Feb, 2017; (b) All current congress notices, including the electoral processes are invalidated;  (c) Appointment of an electoral committee is made by the secretariat office (minimum of three members) to review the anomalies and inconsistencies within PNGFA statutes and member association requirements and obligations; (d) That the electoral committee completes its tasks by September 30, 2016, and report to the executive committee.
Mileng said after the electoral committee had completed its task, a report would be submitted to the executive committee and they would decide when  the congress would reconvene.