Vanapa Brown Rugby League completes season

By ROBINSON LEKA
THE Vanapa Brown Rugby competition completed its 2021 season on Thursday with the Under-20s, women’s and A-grade divisions playing their grand finals at Hawick village near Goldie Barracks, Central.
The U20 final saw the Kevata Raiders defeat Orokana Magpies 8-4 in extra time while the women’s division final saw a strong Bisogo Vipers side come out victors against Goldie Magani 16-6.
A tough A-grade final saw Nari Panthers edge Goldie Magani 4-2.
Competition manager Patrick Imo told The National that the league started off with 22 clubs with teams drawn into two pools over a 13-week season.
Imo said the delays in completing came as a result of restrictions imposed in the middle of the year due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
“We started off the season with 22 clubs for the A-grade and U20 divisions and we had 20 women’s teams,” he said.
“It was quite hard running a 13-week season from July because of the lockdowns and other related restrictions we had with Covid-19 which ran all the way up to October.
“Because of the big number in teams, we split each division into two pools and top eight from both pools entered the finals.
“We didn’t want to carry the finals series into 2022 and we thought that if we kept holding off and rescheduling, the competition would be compromised or a failed competition.
“2022 will have its own calendar and activities and we want to have a clean start.”
Meanwhile, the competition executives acknowledged the support of the National Gaming Control Board, with the board’s chairman Clemence Kanau donating K30,000.