Australian money to sit on sideline until PNG power struggle is tackled

CHRIS BARRETT

THE release of $4 million of Australian taxpayer funding to Papua New Guinea rugby league is on hold indefinitely while a bitter power struggle for leadership of the game in the country persists.

As the Kumuls line up for the second game of their Four Nations campaign, against New Zealand in Rotorua tomorrow, the administration in Port Moresby remains crippled by a dispute between rival factions that has ventured from the boardroom to the courts and back.

The uncertainty over the future stewardship of the PNG Rugby Football League has prompted AusAid, which is a partner in the lucrative package to PNG league with the Australian Sports Commission and the ARL, to continue to delay delivery of the funding 14 months after it was allocated and announced by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

There are hopes that the year-long dispute between former chairman Albert Veratau and Gary Juffa, the PNG customs commissioner, will be resolved at the PNGRFL's annual general meeting next month. If not, the freeze in funding - to be directed towards school and junior rugby league - may continue.

An AusAid spokeswoman confirmed the package of $4 million over four years had been held up since last December. ''A stable administration will be critical to the partnership achieving its rugby league and social development outcomes,'' she said. ''The PNGRFL's internal leadership dispute is a matter for them, and not a matter for the Australian government to become involved in.

''The Australian partners will await the outcome of the PNGRFL board election in November 2010 before determining the next steps in progressing Australian assistance.''

The PNGRFL has been in turmoil since Veratau challenged Juffa's election as chairman last November as unconstitutional in the PNG National Court. The in-fighting led Colin Love, the ARL and Rugby League International Federation chairman, to convene talks between the rival parties in July, with Veratau agreeing to drop legal action while an interim chairman, former PNG chief magistrate John Numapo, was installed until the AGM. Juffa and Veratau were handed responsibility for international matches and funding respectively but the truce has done little to cool tensions.

National coach Adrian Lam and his coaching team have quit, primarily due to Juffa's demand that the Kumuls squad be largely comprised of domestic players and frustration over logistics. The annual PNG Origin game between local players and those playing internationally - planned as a Four Nations selection trial - also fell by the wayside.

Ultimately it will be the responsibility of the ARL to be accountable for the funding - intended to pay for equipment, infrastructure and insurance at the grassroots level - reaching its desired destination, if and when its delivery is given the green light.

Tas Baitieri, the RLIF development manager, is confident a resolution to the ''governance issue'' will arise at the AGM.

The stall in funding coincides with continuing doubts about the viability of the country's NRL bid team. Three board members of that organisation, whose task is to lobby for an NRL franchise based out of PNG by 2015, have handed their resignations to Prime Minister Michael Somare this year. They were Queensland coach Mal Meninga, former PNG treasurer Bart Philemon and businessman Frank Kramer.

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