"Mioks in crisis" - a myth

By *PHILIP KEPSON

When the print media published at their prestigious back page a news story with a headline“Mioks in crisis” on the wholesale sacking of the team officials towards the end the first round of the bemobile Cup challenge, patrons of the team were obviously baffled.
Some of them said: “What the hell is going again”, while some said, “Just give up with this Mioks, and forget them”.
Such remarks were inevitable particularly following their daunting performance in the previous two years with allegations of rape and airport brawl incidents involving players of the team.
However, the patron and strong advocate of the team Governor Peter Ipatas and major sponsor, Ela Motors, were charily briefed by the board before the team manager, the head coach, trainer and three players were presented with their marching orders.
In fact, the board under the chairmanship of Robert Ganim, told the Governor and the sponsors that they were coming up with the hard decision on reasons directly related with discipline to protect the team.
Thus, the board did not waste time in recalling former coach Toksy Nema, expoliceman Peter Kapi as team manager and former Kumul Centre Paul Gela and young Norman Simon of the Wabag rugby league as trainers.
They were given clear instructions before allowing them to take charge of the team with strong emphasis on discipline and commitment while telling the players not to stick their nose into the board’s decision.
Soon after the changes, the team went on to record rousing victories against most resilient teams like Mt Hagen Eagles, Mendi Muruks and Lae Bombers as there was apparent sign of desirable improvement in discipline among officials and players.
When the team continued on with its winning spree in matches both at home and in Lae with credible score lines, any speculation that the team was heading for a disaster started to disappear as thousands of Engans from four corners of the province flooding into Johnson Siki oval on Sundays to grant the much-needed support, receptively led by their illustrious provincial leaders including Governor Ipatas, Paul Kurai, Gutnius Lutheran Church Bishop Rev David Piso, Yasua Kome, senior public servants, Wabag town residents and other prominent figures.
In fact, the team that absurd critics and the media speculated to be heading for a disaster received supplementary morale boost when the small business houses in the province, the meticulous public servants and their gracious cosponsor, the Enga provincial government committed over K100,000 to subsidise entrance (gate) fees to encourage more people to come and watch and provide their support in the last four home games which gainfully saw Mioks recording an all out win of their home games to comfortably finish second on the competition ladder of the first ever bemobile Cup with 20 points after Rabaul Guira on 22.
The excitement among local supporters did not stop in Wabag when the competition authorities scheduled all Toyota Mioks final matches against Mendi Muruks, Goroka Lahanis and Masta Mak Rangers to be played in Lae.
The supporters in the province swiftly mobilsed themselves with over 200-500 vehicles including 40 buses and booked out hotels and guest houses in Lae to urge their much-loved team on, which consequently saw the Muruks and Rangers getting belted out of the race while narrowly losing to Lahanis before they paid back in the major semi final showdown last Sunday in Port Moresby with a convincing 18-10 score line.
Despite the victories, particularly with the excitement reaching greatest heights, there were instances of disasters including three car accidents along the Highlands Highway involving over 50 men and women who sustained minor injuries, smashing of car windscreens by hooligans on the road during night travels and lavish spending of their money on the trips to Lae, the enthusiasm continued to become an overriding factor.
Added to the strong support base in Enga were sincere backing by people from the five Highlands provinces including a faction of Sepiks in Lae as the Toyota Mioks team this year is composed extensively of players from various parts of the Highlands region.
Not only the Highlands region but it has also players from Lae where one of them is from Sepik or better known as "a Sepik from Lae" .
In this way, when the team wins, grand celebrations are held in Mt Hagen, Mendi, Kagua, Jiwaka, Goroka, Asaro, Henganofi, Enga, Kundiawa, Sinasina and Lae where the players’ relatives and supporters live.
On the whole, when the players were recruited from the popular Coca-Cola Ipatas Cup in the beginning of this year (before the competition started), to make it to the grand final was not in their mind as the players were from unknown rural leagues.
But Governor Ipatas told them during a Coca-Cola Ipatas Cup presentation night in Wabag after the new team was announced that one of the reasons for forming the Coca-Cola Ipatas Cup was to tap into the hidden talent in the rural sector of the country to give equal opportunity to those who had been overlooked for many years.
He said he had all the confidence that his new team would become competitive in the bemobile Cup challenge.
“I have all the confidence that you will become a competitive team with players from the towns that are participating in the semi professional team. Lift your heads and think positive towards taking on this challenge,” he told the players.
After that, Governor Ipatas held a meeting where he made a few changes to the membership of the board and gave them the challenge of taking on the new team to be successful in the competition.
Despite Governor Ipatas’ confidence in his team, the team under the circumstance started as underdogs with a bunch of unknown players.
However, Governor Ipatas and his new board kept holding their heads high with regular meeting and doing what they thought was best to shape up the team with the aim of proving all critics wrong one day.
Congratulations to Governor Ipatas and his hard working board members, sponsors and supporters for basically doing that (proving critics including the media wrong) when they emerged from nowhere in the competition to be on the top to make the grand final of the prestigious bemobile Cup.
The Toyota Miok board deserves a special credit for taking one of the biggest risks ever to endorse a wholesale sacking of the officials, which later paid off with the greatest reward of seeing a bunch of unknown players beating all odds to qualify eventually for the grand final of the exalted bemobile Cup.
As the two teams, Toyota Mioks and Rabaul Agmark Guria, are moving closer to the greatest showdown on Sunday, the supporters in both camps are gearing up to cheer on their teams, while the Mioks in particular think that if they were the first to bury the Gurias in their own graveyard in 2000 in the former SP Cup with an 8-6 score line in Kokopo before they went onto belt them further with 20-16 in the grand final in the same year, they should be confident of repeat that on Sunday.
Well, let’s wait and see the best team wins.

*Philip Kepson is publicity officer of the Enga Mioks

Winning is the name of the game for Gurias in bemobile Cup final

By BURI GABI of The National, Papua New Guinea's No. 1 daily newspaper

ANY competition starts with everyone wanting to win the title at the end, and the 2009 bemobile Cup is no exception.
NGIP Agmark Gurias team manager Ted Vere said this as his team prepares to play Toyota Enga Mioks in the bemobile Cup rugby league grand final at the Lloyd Robson Oval in Port Moresby on Sunday.
“I directed my boys to win all the seven home games at the ‘graveyard’ at the Kalabond rugby league ground in Kokopo, and at least win four away matches to secure a finals spot in the cup battle,” Vere said,
“But my boys have done extremely well to secure the first grand finals, and to add the icing, claiming the minor premiership tag for this year.
“Our aim now is to take home the cup to Rabaul to our rugby league-loving fans.”
The Gabagaba, Central province man, has adopted well in his new job and has successfully helped steer the Gurias into yet another grand final.
In 2005, the Gurias took the then SP Cup to Kokopo after defeating the Brian Bell Bulldogs from Port Moresby.
This year’s grand final appearance is the talk of Kokopo, with die-hard fans wanting nothing than the return of PNG rugby league’s Auld Mug to the land of tubuans, dukduks and volcanoes.
Hence the Gurias wanting nothing nothing less than to stand on the victory dais come Sunday.
“The victory is for our sponsors, the people of New Guinea Islands, and families of the dedicated players in the squad who have been together over last 14 weeks,” Vere said confidently.
Coach Michael Marum and Vere have been working extra hard over the last two weeks to get the boys together and bolster them to claim the bemobile cup.
The Gurias are not treating this game as anything special and are doing their normal preparations.
Vere says for for the Gurias to win, it will be a team effort from all 17 players and the big guns Diyon Aiye, George Moni, Kot Kerua, and Rodney Pora.
 Rolly Matalau, Boas Ruru, Pidik Tongap, Channel Aquila and sneaky hooker Sakias Kambange are others who will be counted on.
“All our fans have been telling us to win this Sunday because both our U16 and U19 NGI teams have won this year’s zone titles, and to finish the year on the high note, it is the senior team who must claim the bemobile Cup competition,” Vere said.
He’s says it’s a big ask but the Gurias will be out to do the job.

Enga's pride wants the bemobile Cup

By BURI GABI of The National, Papua New Guinea's No. 1 daily newspaper

THE pride of Enga, Toyota Mioks, want nothing less than the bemobile Cup when they take on bitter rivals Agmark Gurias in the bemobile Cup grand final at the Lloyd Robson Oval in Port Moresby on Sunday.
Mioks’ Captain Courageous David Ako is determined to win for the people of Enga, major sponsor Ela Motors and diehard supporter and Enga Governor Peter Ipatas.
This is despite the myriad of controversies which have beset the team this year.
“We been sleeping and eating together at the Sopas Adventist centre over the last 14 weeks, despite the controversial issues that affected the team and the camp,” he said.
“I’ve told my boys to play rugby league and give back the best results to the people of Enga.
“Let the board and management deal with those issues.”
He said his players had stood together as a despite despite all the setbacks.
Sunday’s game will be a repeat of the 2000 grand final in which the Mioks rode roughshod over the Gurias.
The men from the land of tubuans, dukduks and volcanoes look the have the more-experienced side with seasoned campaigners George Moni, Rodney Pora, Chris Purkikil, Chanel Aquila and Lasan Marabe leading the pack.
 Ako is banking on the raging bull David Loko, Timothy Clement, Jonah Mackey, Miok Anjo and creative halfback Mose to lead by example.
With PNG Resident Kumuls halfback Mai Tom and regular five-eight James Meninga back from injury, the Mioks will prove a hard nut to crack for the Gurias.
“It’ll all boil down to defence, which has been a key aspect of our recent victories, as well as ball control,” Ako said.
“We’ll be giving it our all to take the bemobile Cup back to Enga.”

bemobile reflects on the year that was

By STELLA BITA of bemobile

“It was a challenge not knowing what we were going into but good support from the previous sponsors and the national community helped pull us through the year.”
This was the response by bemobile’s deputy CEO John Papazian (pictured) on the first year of sponsorship by bemobile for the bemobile Cup.
The bemobile cup will finally come to a close for the year 2009 on Sunday, Oct 18, after the grand final match between Rabaul’s Agmark Gurias and the Enga’s Toyota Mioks. 
This comes after 18 challenging weeks of co-ordinating bemobile Cup games held in four main centres of the country.
But for bemobile, this first year of sponsorship, though challenging, was a great learning opportunity for both the management and the staff of the mobile company. 
“The bemobile cup competition is one that is growing from strength to strength,” Mr Papazian said.
“The sponsorship by bemobile enabled the competition to become a flagship event, hence, promoting bemobile provincially and regionally.
“All in all it was great learning opportunity.” 
bemobile’s move to sponsoring the cup was based on a more family-oriented perspective.
  bemobile, as the major sponsor, had the intention of making the games more family-oriented with rugby league one of the most-liked sports in the country. 
bemobile’s chief commercial officer, Chris Raps, says bemobile is still looking into means and ways of improving and encouraging crowds, particularly families, at the bemobile Cup games.
 “Sport, basically any sport, is a social and economical tool for the country, but we here at bemobile have opted to sponsor rugby league as it seems to have a great impact in PNG,” he said.
The bemobile cup competition was launched on June 4, 2009, at the Lamana Gold Club in Port Moresby by the NCD Governor, Powes Parkop, and witnessed by many corporate and statutory heads.
The competition began on June 21, 2009, with a match between the two city Teams, CIVPAC Vipers and Masta Mak Rangers, at the Lloyd Robson Oval.
 The Official kick off was performed by bemobile board chairman, Anthony Smare (pictured).
Matches were also played in Lae, Goroka and Wabag.
With this year’s competition over and done with, bemobile is hopeful to put into action what they have learnt throughout the first year of sponsorship and make the bemobile Cup competition bigger and better next year.

Papua New Guinea National Rugby League thanks sponsors and Franchise companies for job well done

By STELLA BITA of bemobile

The Papua New Guinea National Rugby League is certain that next year’s bemobile cup competition will be bigger and better. 
Operations manager for bemobile cup, Joe Tokam, made this known when expressing his satisfaction about the entire competition.
 “2009 competition went smoothly,” he said.
“I would like to thank the supporters and spectators of the franchise teams for supporting in good spirits and enhancing a peaceful atmosphere throughout the season.”
He said the reports on riots and disturbances throughout the competition were minor compared to previous incidents in the earlier competition. 
He was impressed with the franchise companies for a job well done.
“The franchise companies did very well despite the fact that the league fraternity was not properly organised and I would like to express gratitude to franchise owners for sponsoring their teams,” Mr Tokam said.
He outlined that this year, the competition started very late, therefore, clashing with the international matches scheduled in October.
 He said for 2010, the competition would begin in early May, so that there was no clash on venues during the bemobile tournament.
Meanwhile, Mr Tokam is still working on a strategy to help increase the cash flow in all centres where bemobile tournaments are held.
He said to date, only Port Moresby and Lae were up to date on cash flow takings, but the other centres were yet to pick up.
“I am thankful to the bemobile staff for their time and efforts in coordinating the games,” Mr Tokam said.
“Thank you for your tireless efforts in making the bemobile cup 2009 a success up till the grand final.
“The grand finale will put a halt to the tireless weekends and sleepless nights that many of the staff went through.” Mr Tokam said.
bemobile will be sponsoring the competition over a three year period and spending over K600, 000 per year.
 

Has Papua New Guinea gone backwards or forwards since independence in 1975?

Results of my latest poll:

Forward 3 (15%)
Backwards 13 (68%)
No opinion 1 (5%)
Don't know about the issue 2 (10%)

An afternoon drive outside of Port Moresby

Rundown Ilimo Farm at 15-Mile

Bluff Inn, 17-Mile

Bar at Bluff Inn alongside the picturesque Laloki River

View from the vehicle

16-Mile

Bucolic roadside scenery

I took an afternoon drive today to the Bluff Inn, at 17-Mile outside Port Moresby, and really enjoyed the countryside and picturesque rural scenes, and so close to the city.

Try it, you won't regret it!