SP Brewery gets naming rights

By MATTHEW VARI

Wednesday, December 25, 2013 (Midweek Chronicle, PNG)

SOUTH Pacific (SP) Brewery continued its philanthropy in sports in the country on Monday by being signed in as the naming rights sponsor for the new entrant into the Intrust Super Cup competition in Queensland, the “SP PNG Hunters”- with a sponsorship of K1.5 million over the next three years.

The signing of SP coincided with the official announcement of the name and colours for the francise, which will see the team don the national colours that will be predominantly red- to give it a difference from the national jersey.

Recently appointed Chairman for PNGRFL Sandis Tsaka thanked all sponsors involved in the code, especially SP for their tremendous support over the years.

“First of all I would like to thank Stan Joyce General Manager of SP Brewery, the number one beer maker in the country who has supported us over the years in many respects,” he said.

“But this occasion marks one of the momentous pinnacle in our partnership between rugby league and SP Brewery, and we hope this partnership continues into the near future.”

“On this same note I take this opportunity to thank our many sponsors, both with our intrust cup team and our various rugby league programs running co-currently- without your support and contributions in cash and kind all our programs will be futile.”

He referred to league being the national sport, not only because of the government’s support, but also of its ability to bring the country together.

“Rugby league is in the heart of the people and we have our corporate partners who realize that rugby league can be a vehicle not only to improve our players profoundly, but it can be used as a vehicle to deliver social development in this country.”

“We’ve held that back to give the privilege to the sponsor to come on board and celebrate this occasion announcement,” he said.

General Manager for SP Stan Joyce in presenting the cheque said that he was optimistic on the benefits the team would not only bring to the sport but also the nation.

“I am excited today to be doing something in sport that gets international recognition and has the support from the government from the other country is a sign of how interesting what we are doing here is.”

“The brewery is always prepared to take a long term view- we sometimes have short term setbacks, but we take a long term view of this competition, and I believe very quickly we will see the benefits of this,” he said.

“I have no concerns about the security, no concerns about the crowds, and I think that the focus we will have here will be professionally run under the leadership of PNGRFL and the team.”

“For the marketing team at the brewery, they are excited at the level of promotions that they will come up with at the brewery and in the code.”

He said that there would be opportunities for people to travel to Kalabong in Kokopo where the Hunters would be based at, and also the opportunity to travel overseas to watch the team play.

Joyce highlighted the strong partnership the brewery has, after being in existence in PNG for one year less than the PNGRFL, which was incorporated in 1951 and SP in 1952.

The GM also praised the huge efforts of the Minister for Sport Justin Tkatchenko, for his leadership and intervention in the code, and also CEO of the team Brad Tassel for his experience in putting together Northern Pride that is currently competing in the Intrust Cup.

“The passion Brad has is something we are very fortunate to have here in Papua New Guinea,” Joyce added.

“I hope during his time the other younger administrators will be exposed to the passion that he has. So when he moves on we will have that wealth of experience imparted in our country.”

Minister for Sports Justin Tkatchenko emphasized the important approach the government was taking with the private public partnership- praising Stan Joyce and the brewery for the role they have played in sports in the country.

SP PNG Hunters Interim CEO Brad Tassell thanked SP for its contribution to putting on the pathway towards one of the toughest competition in the world the NRL.

“To have the support of a highly recognizable and respected company such as SP on board is a huge boost for us.”

“Its contribution over the next three years allows us to put in place a fulltime professional program to prepare our PNG Players for what is one of the toughest rugby league competition in the world.”

It has been a tough journey but we have been rewarded with a five year license and I would like to personally thank Stan and SP for their fantastic support and we look forward to delivering a successful program both on and off the field.