Women’s rugby split alliances

THE announcement of the election of the Women’s Rugby Union (WRU) executives’ was received with some edgy responses yesterday.
Some parties involved in a recent move by clubs, in the womens’ competition, to stay as affiliates to Port Moresby Rugby Union, under the PNG Rugby Football Union, expressed concern as to the eligibility of the unions that voted.
Of the unions that were present and voted, Alotau RFU, NCD Rugby Union and Lae Womens Rugby Union, it is not known how long they had been affiliated to the WRU, or when they had affiliated.
Alotau, whilst known for their affiliation to PNGRFU in the past, have not been active in the past seasons on the yearly calendar, with their now-WRU affiliation also coming into question.
With the womens’ rugby competition in Port Moresby, the only known active women’s competition, another question was posed to what competition the Lae women’s been under.
The recent tug-of-war in women’ rugby, resulted in Port Moresby women’s clubs, Defence, University, Brothers, and Wanderers, all confirming their alliance with the PNGRFU affiliated, POMRFU, the competition they had been part of.
Representative of this alliance, Sallyanne Mokis had announced then that the clubs had come together in a consensus, to stay with POMRFU, and would work closely with the mother union, PNGRFU.
The only other clubs were Royals and LaSallians, who had not made known their alliances yet, whilst this year’s champions Southern Chiefs strengthened their WRU affiliations.
Mention of the West New Britain RFU as part of WRUs affiliations also brought about confusion in the ongoing women’s rugby saga.
The end of season tale emerged when it was revealed that women clubs were not happy with the WRU.
Club representatives had stated that they had been kept in the dark throughout the season on important matters.
Some of the issues raised pointed to the transparency on selections, affiliations, plans and the financial affairs of the union.