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I was catching up on my league news this morning and upon turning to The Daily Telegraph’s NRL page, was delighted to finally see some media exposure for the game’s new juggernaut, Poland.
I use the term ‘juggernaut’ with qualifications. As of this moment there is only one team in Poland, which makes the formation of a national competition in that country slightly difficult in the near future.
The Magpies, as they are known (possibly an ill omen for their future) are struggling to come up with the 3500 zloty (over $1,000) they need to make the trip to Hungary to take on that country’s finest league warriors, in a match being promoted as “The Hurtin’ Behind the Curtain”.
Okay…that was all me.
FFCCRL (Federation of Former Communist Countries Rugby League) officials initially released a flyer for the match with the primer: “watch large, monosyllabic sloths beat each other’s brains out in a no-holds-barred battle for survival!”
Unfortunately, prospective fans found it confusing, asking officials why they should pay money to see something they could get for free on a daily basis.
The Magpies first three matches have been, shall we say, inauspicious. Taking on a team of British and Irish students called the Pioneers, the scoreline for the first game was a cliffhanging 98-0.
Credit where it’s due, however. The Magpies made some defensive adjustments for game two and inched closer with an 82-0 result.
Unfortunately, after two extremely competitive games, the wheels fell off, with the Pioneers running out to an 158-0 win in game three, securing what Polish league fans call a “clean sweepski”.
So where to go from here?
Hungary v Poland simply must happen, for the good of our game. Yes, there is a question mark over eligibility.
What happens when Polish and Hungarian players start being selected for Origin? Then we’d have the ridiculous situation of players being born elsewhere, speaking English with a thick foreign accent and trying to pass themselves off as New South Welshmen or Queenslanders…oh, wait up, we already have that.
Please report to your local Polish embassy and donate a few measly dollars to the neediest in our world game. Trust me, trying to kick a 40/20 with a medium-sized piece of Kielbasa salami is no fun.
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