FORMER Kumul forward Leslie Hoffman has commended the positive impact the SP PNG Hunters has brought to the game in Papua New Guinea.
He said the game has reached new heights and it signalled great signs for the future of the game in the country.
Hoffman was speaking in his capacity as the chairman of the National Gaming Control Board, which handed over K1.5 million to the Hunters at a brief ceremony today in Port Moresby.
“We’ve reached new heights in rugby league, it’s due to a new vision, new people…,” he said.
“We’ve taken the first step and we will take the next step.”
Hoffman, who played a number of Tests for the Kumuls, said everybody was talking about the Hunters and he thanked the O’Neill-Dion Government for the foresight in getting behind such a venture as the Hunters in their debut season in the Queensland Intrust Super Cup competition.
He said as a Government agency the National Gaming Control Board was there to support any initiative like the Hunters that brought positive benefits to the country as whole.
“We are here to fulfill that commitment,” he said as NGCB handed over a cheque to PNG Rugby Football League chairman Sandis Tsaka and Minister for Sports Justin Tkatchenko.
Minister Tkatchenko said the Government would support the Hunters for the next four years with a view to strengthen the foundations of the franchise – for it to eventually become self-sufficient after that.
“We’ve finally taken rugby league to another level and it is a positive story that has to keep going,” he said.
He said such support for necessary as a transition period, which would provide the foundation on which ventures such as the Hunters needed to be eventually self-sustaining.
Minister Tkatchenko said as part of this long-term plan to make sports like rugby league self-sufficient the Government had poured a significant amount of money into infrastructure such the constructions of football stadiums.
And with such world-class facilities (currently under construction) like that in place, sports like rugby league can use them to become self-sustainable.
PNG Rugby Football League chairman Sandis Tsaka thanked the National Gaming Control Board and the Government for the support, adding that it was his board’s intention to commercialise the game to achieve such objectives.
He said rugby league had been through a turbulent period and was a “dysfunctional organisation” and his board in the last six months had tried to put structures in place to ensure the game was put on a path to recovery and given a “breath of fresh air”.
Tsaka said it was not an easy task, which needed best practices like accountability and transparency among others but with the committed efforts and valuable support of every stakeholder of the game including great Government support like they had received to date a lot of these challenges could be overcome.
He said the game has reached new heights and it signalled great signs for the future of the game in the country.
Hoffman was speaking in his capacity as the chairman of the National Gaming Control Board, which handed over K1.5 million to the Hunters at a brief ceremony today in Port Moresby.
“We’ve reached new heights in rugby league, it’s due to a new vision, new people…,” he said.
“We’ve taken the first step and we will take the next step.”
Hoffman, who played a number of Tests for the Kumuls, said everybody was talking about the Hunters and he thanked the O’Neill-Dion Government for the foresight in getting behind such a venture as the Hunters in their debut season in the Queensland Intrust Super Cup competition.
He said as a Government agency the National Gaming Control Board was there to support any initiative like the Hunters that brought positive benefits to the country as whole.
“We are here to fulfill that commitment,” he said as NGCB handed over a cheque to PNG Rugby Football League chairman Sandis Tsaka and Minister for Sports Justin Tkatchenko.
Minister Tkatchenko said the Government would support the Hunters for the next four years with a view to strengthen the foundations of the franchise – for it to eventually become self-sufficient after that.
“We’ve finally taken rugby league to another level and it is a positive story that has to keep going,” he said.
He said such support for necessary as a transition period, which would provide the foundation on which ventures such as the Hunters needed to be eventually self-sustaining.
Minister Tkatchenko said as part of this long-term plan to make sports like rugby league self-sufficient the Government had poured a significant amount of money into infrastructure such the constructions of football stadiums.
And with such world-class facilities (currently under construction) like that in place, sports like rugby league can use them to become self-sustainable.
PNG Rugby Football League chairman Sandis Tsaka thanked the National Gaming Control Board and the Government for the support, adding that it was his board’s intention to commercialise the game to achieve such objectives.
He said rugby league had been through a turbulent period and was a “dysfunctional organisation” and his board in the last six months had tried to put structures in place to ensure the game was put on a path to recovery and given a “breath of fresh air”.
Tsaka said it was not an easy task, which needed best practices like accountability and transparency among others but with the committed efforts and valuable support of every stakeholder of the game including great Government support like they had received to date a lot of these challenges could be overcome.
RSS Feed