Opposition Leader Don Poyle says the sport of rugby league in the country needs a massive overhaul to improve standards and international ranking.
“Justin Tkatchenko (Sports Minister) misses the point completely, he talks about things that are very trivial without addressing the real issues,” Polye’s comments referred to the Sports Minister’s response to his media statement.
“I am addressing two issues, the first point is that the administration and management of rugby league as a sport in Papua New Guinea has been a failure, so much time and resource have been put into this particular sport but PNG is ranked below other smaller nations like Fiji (7th placing) and Samoa (4th placing).
“We cannot continue to blindly support rugby league without fixing the problem there, which has been there for 40 years.
“Standards have dropped and we cannot continue to pump in money without addressing the issue,” Polye told a media conference today.
The Kumuls have dropped in the international ranking to 14th place behind rugby league minnows Canada, Italy, Serbia and USA.
The country’s alternative Prime Minister challenged the Sports Minister to diversify funding to support other sports also, than pumping millions to rugby league only.