Manning’s next big goal for PNG team
A NEGOTIATING scrum involving Cairns Mayor Bob Manning and the two heaviest executive hitters in rugby league will take place today in Sydney.
The Cairns Regional Councillor aims to get NRL chief Todd Greenberg and ARLC chairman Peter Beattie onside for the push to field a Papua New Guinea team based in Cairns in the national competition.
He suggested the opportunity transcended sport and could carve out new social and economic opportunities on either side of the Torres Strait.
“I’m not just talking about football,” he said.
“I’m talking about trade, about work, about investment, with benefits to both PNG and Australia, and particularly Port Moresby and Cairns.
“That’s the big game, the end.
“Football’s weekend, this days a week.”
Cr Manning stressed his talks with the rugby league bosses were still a very early step in securing a team. in once every will be seven
“Mr Beattie has already gone on record as saying that PNG would be an attractive proposition,” he said.
“We need to be careful in what we say and do at this stage. We also need to be respectful to the PNG football league.
“This will be a form of partnership, if indeed it happens at all.”
It is an odd concept – an overseas team based in Cairns at a new rectangular stadium that has not yet been built – but Cr Manning said people should not be frightened by its peculiarity.
“Of course it’s unusual, but it’s unusual too that the closest capital city to us is Port Moresby, which happens to be in another country,” Cr Manning said.
“There are close links between this city and PNG already and they feel more comfortable with us than with people a bit further south.
“These discussions are exploratory, then we can move onto the next step.”
editorial@cairnspost.com.au facebook.com/TheCairnsPost www.cairnspost.com.au twitter.com/TheCairnsPost