Why isn’t the Prime Minister’s XIII ever broadcast in Australia? While I’ve only seen highlights, it seems unmatched for spectacle.
On the one hand, it offers up a who’s who of players who are more than capable of playing finals footy but haven’t made it to the knockout rounds.
In doing so, it often offers a great showcase for players who happen to be better than where their teams are at. There’s something cathartic about that.
At the same time, it often forms part of the selection process for other representative clashes. This year Mal Meninga has made it clear that the XIII was an audition for Four Nations.
But the Prime Minister’s XIII is also, by all accounts, an incredible spectacle on its own terms. In large part, that comes down to the intense rugby league culture in Papua New Guinea.
More than nearly any other nation, Papua New Guinea treats rugby league as its most prized sporting export.
While the Kumuls may not stand much of a chance of beating the Australian XIII at this stage, that’s not really the point. Instead, this is a celebration of rugby league fandom at its most enthusiastic and eccentric.
Watching other fans is part of the pleasure of being at a match, just as listening to banter is one of the best bits of the live sporting experience.
In Australia, it’s easy to underestimate the intense fandom that figures like Greg Inglis and Semi Radradra generate in Papua New Guinea. In an interview with the Telegraph, Mark Mom suggested that requests for GI to perform his trademark Goanna move were even greater than requests for tickets to the game.
Given the thousands of fans who lined up at Port Moresby airport to greet Inglis and the team, that’s not hard to believe.
In Australia, rugby league is often seen as a lesser or more lowbrow sport alongside union and AFL. There’s something amazing, then, about seeing the sheer celebrity and love these players achieve overseas.
That kind of fandom also produces a different kind of performance from the players.
It wasn’t merely a less talented Papua New Guinea side that allowed Inglis, Radradra and Blake Ferguson to score two tries apiece, or for Mitchell Moses to bring home three straight conversions in the first half.
That level of achievement and consistency comes from playing to a crowd that loves the game enough to barrack for both sides at once.
I can only imagine the level of energy and intensity when Inglis scored 30 seconds out from halftime with a backflip into the right corner and then performed his trademark move to the rapturous crowd.
Inglis, in particular, thrives in these kinds of representative matches and his presence in Papua New Guinea this year sounds as if it was up there with some of his best Origin performances.
Of course, lots of this stuff is available on YouTube in highlight reels, but there’s still less than you might think. In any case, it’s just not the same when divorced from the texture of the game as a whole.
As finals football becomes more intense, focused and methodical, there’s something cathartic about the carnival spirit of the Prime Minister’s XIII. For those of us who don’t have players in the finals, it’s a reminder of the resilience and talent they can show in the following year.
At the same time, it works well as a summary of the year in the lead up to the finals.
As a Tigers fan, it’s also great to see players like Moses getting a representative shot. It’s also great to see players like James Tedesco rack up his representative efforts with displays like the cut-out pass that set up Ferguson’s first try.
All in all, it’s just the right kind of spectacle to usher in the last few games of finals football as well as a brilliant advertisement for rugby league in Papua New Guinea – so why not broadcast it in the future?
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