Transcript
SYD YATES: Everyone in rugby in PNG has had enough and we're very keen on moving forward and that's what we're trying to do. I've found that we have had a good relationship and all the parties on the board are very committed to getting back to what we should do and we all are there for and that is for players. We're only administrators and we're there to administrate but what it's all about really is the players and the game itself.
VINNIE WYLIE: So World Rugby is obviously on board and Oceania Rugby is on board and both are supportive of the interim administration - and you've all agreed on a way forward?
SY: Yes, we have agreed on a way forward and I think the key thing that we need to do is rebuild our governance structure. World Rugby has over the last two years been implementing a new constitution throughout the region and we will be doing that. We've got a plan to implement a new constitution and World Rugby will be helping us with that. They said it normally takes about 18 months to go through that process but we have a time-frame that we expect we will be having our first stakeholder meetings in probably late October and some workshops to be run by World Rugby and Oceania with their representatives, their experts on governance. We will then have the workshops in Papua New Guinea then we go back and get that framework established and we expect we will be able to move forward and have an AGM in the first quarter of next year, so that gives time for all the unions to affiliate - to meet the requirements of the constitution - so that we can make sure we satisfy all the requirements of Oceania and World Rugby. When we leave we want to make sure the new board will have a good sound structure, they have good relationships with the key stakeholders, including World Rugby and Oceania and all our key sponsors that have helped us before so they can then get on with a framework of managing the game and developing the game. We've got a lot of work to do - I mean we've gone nowhere for a couple of years - so if we can get those things in place for the new board it will be fantastic.
VW: What is the financial situation - has World Rugby turned back on the tap yet?
SY: World Rugby has had the tap turned off and look the only real funding that we have available for us right now is (from limited sponsorship). We've got to tick the boxes to get back there and the funding will not help us prepare our teams to get to the (sevens) World Cup. Any funding that we may be able to get will help us with the administration of the game, which comes under the grants because we have no employees at the moment, we have no money but we are working on it. Since the interim board has been established we are trying to establish those key relationships against and we need to show that we are working together. We need to show that we have a plan, we need to show that we're going to put good governance around everything but unfortunately we have to do some of this in parallel because we've got the World Cup coming up in July and we're not going to have all those things in place.
VW: Is this the end of the dispute?
SY: Well it certainly appears that way to me. Look, I'm an independent (board member) and I've always watched rugby with interest and I love the game of rugby. Time will tell - we have to put some runs on the board and we have to hopefully sit and listen and communicate, which I think is a big thing that hasn't happened in the past, and if we can communicate and listen and show that we're trying to be there for the game of rugby and get it back to a position where we can truly compete at the international level I believe that hopefully we will move forward.