Could tours by resident teams of NZ, PNG or PI nations help grow the international game ?

[The Partisan]

Always liked the idea of having short tours by an NZ, PNG or Pacific Islands Residents team instigated to have regional locations experience international rugby league again.

Teams could play regional representative teams (e.g. PNG Residents v Central Qld in Rockhampton) and / or Australian based emerging nations (e.g. Tonga Residents v Malta at Goulburn).

Max of 3 games. One in Qld, NSW and an affiliated state. Drop one and rotate annually if two is a more economical option.

Could be a bidding process from different region al councils to secure games.

People in regional areas probably lucky to see an international team once a decade these days as opposed to the days of tours from GB, NZ and France providing games every couple of years.

Like everything else....funding is the issue.

 

[The Partisan]

If trialled and successful could replicate in the UK with France and Wales and European nations.

France Residents v Cumbria County Amateurs at Carlisle.

Wales Residents v Southern England Amateurs at Cornwall.

Serbia v Jamaica UK Amateurs at Ipswich.

 

[Coastbloke]

Didn’t they used to have NSW Country (actual country players) do tours to France and so on?

There was also a tournament that ran about 20 years ago (4 teams) where they had games like NSW Country v PNG Residents or Affiliated states v NZ residents etc..

 

[siv]

Think about how much people care when the English Knights play

Residents games are generally ignored by the masses and things like international rankings

If a Residents game was worth something like half points in the ranking sytem it would have more meaning

 

[siv]

I liked the old idea where say a Residents selection was run

Eg PNG Residents v Overseas PNG

Fiji did it too

 

[The Partisan]

Didn’t they used to have NSW Country (actual country players) do tours to France and so on?

There was also a tournament that ran about 20 years ago (4 teams) where they had games like NSW Country v PNG Residents or Affiliated states v NZ residents etc..

Yes the Quad Series was around for a very short time. The British Community Lions team were also involved one year. I'll assume funding was one of the reasons it was discontinued.

They do bring variety and hopefully renewed interest in to the representative scene at this level. Something for players to aspire to as well. If no rep team above your district level the drive to improve yourself is probably lowered for those individuals keen to go as far as they can outside the NRL.

 

[The Partisan]

Think about how much people care when the English Knights play

Residents games are generally ignored by the masses and things like international rankings

If a Residents game was worth something like half points in the ranking sytem it would have more meaning

The English Knights is a different story. It is still mostly Super League based players.