Maineke had decided to come out and clear the air over this after learning that Kimbe, after having crowned the winners, will now be representing the NGI region in the Besta Cup Final to be held in Lae.
“We didn’t declare any winners because there was no grand final held that will determine who will be representing the NGI region in the Besta Cup in Lae,” said Maineke.
“Kimbe, after having beaten NBPOL in the first semi-final, was waiting to face off with the winner of the Manus/Bougainville in the grand final. But that didn’t happen after Manus had disputed the win by Bougainville.
He added that the disciplinary committee which was made up of representatives from the NGI soccer executives and the local organising committee than met and agreed for a rematch to be held between Manus and Bougainville, however this did not happen because the Bougainville players had boarded the plane on the day they were supposed to play the rematch game.
Maineke, who is also an executive committee member of PNG Football Association said the disciplinary committee and the local organising committee then decided that no winner should be declared in the men’s division after learning of the departure by Bougainville players.
“However, we did come up with two options. First, there will be no men’s team representing NGI region in the Besta Cup Final because we didn’t have any grand final that will determine the winner.
“The second option was for these three teams, Kimbe, Bougainville and Manus to travel to Lae before the start of the Besta FA Cup final playoff.
Manus will play Bougainville to see who will challenge Kimbe in the grand final. The winner will then represent NGI region in the Besta Cup final against winners from Southern, Momase and Highlands region,” said Maineke.
Ends