Rabaul Rugby team kicks off 2022 with K40, 000 from BSP
The Rabaul Rugby Schools Select Side (RRSSS) team will kick off its 2022 season with a K40,000 sponsorship boost from BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP).
The team is among 12 that will take part in the 2022 seasons of the Rabaul Rugby Football League (RRFL) School Rugby League Competition in East New Britain Province.
BSP Rabaul Branch Manager David Pilai said BSP continues in the path to identify, develop and support young talents through sports and what better way to do so through this sponsorship of K40,000 towards the Rabaul Schools Select Side and (RRFL) competition for yet another year.
“BSP believes in supporting the communities we operate in. Whether it be through sports development among our youngsters in the community level or through our Community Projects covering Health and Education, one of which you can see if you go to Matupit.
“This sponsorship support will go towards upgrading the second sports field which will be used in the competition. Trophies, sporting equipment and competition cost is also covered in this sponsorship by BSP. Apart from the K40, 000 sponsorship, BSP will also run Financial Literacy Training in selected grades in schools that are participating in this competition,” Mr Pilai added.
RRFL President Michael Marum on behalf of the Rabaul Rugby League Executives, School Coordinators, staff and officials thanked BSP for coming through with a sponsorship of K40, 000 again in 2022. Last year’s sponsorship saw 750 students from five (5) different schools in Rabaul participate in the Rabaul Rugby School League program.
“Rabaul rugby league in its revival stages in 2021 has already become a model league in the country which has a fair representation of players of men, women, boys and girls. This is something we are proud off. We set high standards in our competition seniors and juniors and want to become better ambassadors of the code, place we come from and who we represent,” Mr Marum said.
“Without BSP’s support we would have not been able to send 60 of our kids to represent Rabaul in Kokopo during the schools championships, NGI in Port Moresby during the national schools championships which was something our players have been missing out on for nearly 20 years. With this partnership our future kids can see the partway we have created for them to be able to also participate in such programs in years to come. We look forward to a successful 2022 school competition,” the president added.
BSP as the biggest financial and banking institution in PNG and the Pacific, not only assist rugby development programs; we also support junior development in other sporting codes such as cricket through the BSP School Kriket Program, Tennis and Squash through their National Championships, Golf through the Junior Pro Am, Indoor and Beach Volleyball, just to name a few.
“A testament to this is PNG’s Cricket team - PNG Barramundis. The Barras took part in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Final Series last year. Nine of the 16 players were identified through their participation in the BSP School Kriket program. Their talents were developed and eventually made it to the senior men’s team to represent PNG. So we hope this sponsorship will also see talents identified and developed for future international rugby matches,” Mr Pilai further added.