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Having been to Papua New Guinea, the only country in the world to have rugby league as its national sport, I can tell you they do love their league. The country may be a basket case in many ways, but I would expect they would actually get organised to field an NRL side if they had to.
The country has produced some great league players such as Marcus Bai, Adrian Lam, Stanley Gene, Neville Costigan and more.
Union is a poor cousin in PNG – it is only a tier 3 nation in rugby, and far behind their Islander cousins in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
The recent elevation to the ranks of the Wallabies of Will Genia (whose background is Australia-PNG, and whose brother plays for the Puk-Puks or PNG national union team) made me start to think about why PNG couldn’t provide a source of players like Fiji and other countries.
I then stumbled on (well, Andrew Logan pointed me to it) an article about how former Wallaby Chris Roche has helped resuscitate Brisbane Norths from almost being kicked out of the Brisbane Premier Rugby comp in 2005.
Part of the article indicated that “Roche and his backs coach Bill Thompson went to Papua New Guinea to recruit promising backline players.”
While Fiji and Co. have been plundered by Australia and New Zealand alike over previous years for players, PNG seems to have been ignored. Yet there is a multitude of talent there, with the same capacity for skills and exciting Islander rugby that thrills the world.
I don’t expect that Papuan league players (and their union equivalents) are so enamoured of the code that they would reject the chance to become a professional football player in union.
So, while the Melbourne Rebels cast their eyes around for talent in 2011, perhaps they should be calling Chris Roche for some tips about finding talent to the north. Indeed, perhaps all the Super clubs, as well as Shute Shield and Premier Rugby clubs, should be looking too.
And before all the league fans start screaming blue murder – there’s nothing stopping NRL clubs from doing the same (and they clearly have been for years).
Wonder how the Puk-puks would go in World Sevens with some help from their league players …?
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.