The morning rain surely did not stop all the rugby league faithfuls to gather around the Konedobu field in the city of Port Moresby to catch the start of the inaugural Dadi Toka Pepsi 9s rugby league cup challenge yesterday.
The field was packed since 9am in the morning with fans, teams, and even the vendors.The Tournament Director Mr. Vaeke Vani, said we can expect more of this in the days to come.
The tournament itself is massive with a total of 32 teams fitted into 48 pools. Yesterday saw 24 pools play while the other 24 will take the field today. As such Mr. Vani said this tournament could carry on past the three days as initially planned.
“This game possibly might drag into the fourth day, which is this Sunday. But that depends on how the pool games will go,” he said.
Mr. Vani earlier this week said the finals were planned to take place on Saturday 22nd January following two days of pool games; however, all that could change.
The teams currently participating in the tournament have come from as far as Kairuku in the Kairuku Hiri District, Papa and Lealea in the Hiri west and the rest from the Motu Koita villages and some from the suburban league competitions.