The Australian Football League (AFL) code in Papua New Guinea (PNG), like the other national federations in the country, will have to go through yet another process of getting approval from the National Pandemic Controller to hold its competitions and programs for this year.
AFL PNG Senior Football Operations Manager Mr. Rex Leka said the PNG AFL Commission and the Junior Development program will be submitting a formal request again that will contain how the national federation will be running the 2022 season in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols. This will mean how the federation will be controlling the number of spectators and teams on the field at one time and the measures in place to prevent the potential spread of the virus, like hand sanitizers and temperature checks being conducted.
Mr. Leka added that this submission will be sent to the Controller’s office by the end of this week, and he is hoping to get a response soon. This is because the earlier the competitions and programs start the better, after the federation had to cancel the last season due to COVID-19 implications.
“We hope to a response soon because with the 2022 academic year about to start, it would be great if we could start right away with the junior development programs like the Niu Kick program and the annual schools’ competition.”
Meanwhile, the last season had to be cancelled early for the senior competition due to the COVID-19 measures and the delay in response from the authorities, including the Controller’s office, on the resumption dates for some of the sporting codes, including AFL.