Need Papua into the comp

[Dazraider]

I would love to see a nation that has rugby league as its national sport to be introduced into the competition like Papua New Guinea.
Even Australia hasnt got league as its national sport as AFL overrules the majority of the country, England have soccer and NZ have rugby.

Papua would have a great support and the ticket prices may have to be very cheap to be affordable to attend the matches but you would get a full crowd every week.

They are always entertaining players and it would lift their national team up to the standards of Australia NZ and England after a few seasons.
Local Derby can be NQ and Port Morseby.

Im sure they would get major support from some rich man or women and I know they would get an amazing amount of fans.
If we want to get this game up to higher standards worldwide we need to start establishing teams from outside Australia and maybe even introduce Samoa.Tonga Fiji and Cook Islands in as well or just combine all of these sides and have a pacific team when the worldcup comes along.

 

[$$Poor Boy Blues$$]

I have papuan friends, they are great.

pity its a third world country

 

[stormbati]

The side would have to be based in sydney. PNG is a third world country and players can't be expected to live there.

 

[Iafeta]

A lot of issues:

* Player recruitment - if I was a player I'd want massive overs for my health and security concerns let alone my cultural assimilation concerns before I'd even consider moving there full time
* The economics of it - as you say, tickets may have to be cheap, but the economics of it is that ticket price x tickets sold give you per day revenue, and if ticket price is enormously low as I dare say it would need to be in that economy where is the returns to keep it sustainable and viable?
* The costs of flying in and out of PNG
* Some players may have security concerns about going there for a club game
* Do they have the media infrastructure to broadcast to a high enough quality for our media partners?

I think a more logical way to bring Papua New Guinea into the competition would be to hold academies up there, and build affiliations with NRL clubs to scout players up there for NRL teams. I doubt we'll ever seriously get to the point of getting an NRL team in there.

 

[beave]

I swear every 2nd month some moron brings this up, PNG aint gonna f#$king happen.

 

[Brutus]

Even Australia hasnt got league as its national sport as AFL overrules the majority of the country,

Half the country, not the majority. Get it right.

PNG may be a chance in 50-100 years.

 

[ThinkOfTheChildren]

Half the country, not the majority. Get it right.

PNG may be a chance in 50-100 years.

Ironically you are right. It will be Australia's responsibility to take much of the population of these third world countries by the end of the century as world temperatures rise and these regions become uninhabitable.

It would be prudent of the league to begin lobbying the Government for a new separate
nation ala Israel, to be formed in Blacktown. They will have their own stadium from 2022 world cup! We could call it the PNG strip

 

[Shaun Hewitt]

I dont think they have a player base for a whole team.
However, i would love to see more PNG individuals in the NRL.
Marcus Bai was great to watch!

 

[Baron Vo Mandor]

When they get close to universal literacy, a decent hospital system and civil stability then they can worry about a footy team!

 

[nqcowboy87]

baron vo mandor is right, im sick of people constantly bringing up a png team as a viable entity, look at the country, its rife with all sorts of problems, when i went there in 04, there capital, there main citys main streets was dirty and had potholes in it and the only nice place in the whole of port moresby was the airways hotel, and from what ive heard from relatives who have travelled there more recently nothing has changed, dont get me wrong png holds a special place in my heart, but it is completely ignorant of the png government to say they would be prepared to foot the bill of a png team when theyre own country needs help more. it aint gonna work due to the many reasons people keep listing every time this topic gets brought up

 

[Perth Red]

Base them in Darwin, 6 games in each city. Just a pipe dream but one day who knows?

 

[Lockyer4President!]

Base them in Darwin, 6 games in each city. Just a pipe dream but one day who knows?

Nearly 2,000kms away, different climate, culture, economy, etc.

Get the PNG government to support a team in the QLD Cup and see how they go first.

 

[Eels Dude]

A lot of issues:

* Player recruitment - if I was a player I'd want massive overs for my health and security concerns let alone my cultural assimilation concerns before I'd even consider moving there full time
* The economics of it - as you say, tickets may have to be cheap, but the economics of it is that ticket price x tickets sold give you per day revenue, and if ticket price is enormously low as I dare say it would need to be in that economy where is the returns to keep it sustainable and viable?
* The costs of flying in and out of PNG
* Some players may have security concerns about going there for a club game
* Do they have the media infrastructure to broadcast to a high enough quality for our media partners?

I think a more logical way to bring Papua New Guinea into the competition would be to hold academies up there, and build affiliations with NRL clubs to scout players up there for NRL teams. I doubt we'll ever seriously get to the point of getting an NRL team in there.

What he said. Like to see how PNG would be able to fund and build a stadium capable of meeting NRL standards.

 

[beave]

They couldn't even afford to keep the Moresby Vipers in the QRL comp, f**k knows how they could afford to fund a fully fledged NRL side.

 

[ThinkOfTheChildren]

For some reason (not entirely sure why) they have a catastrophic aids problem in PNG despite being awash with condoms. Something like 20% of all citizens have HIV.

Imagine the hornets nest this would stir up if a PNG side was included. Regardless of the
effectiveness of the blood bin, I think some serious phobias would be stirred up.

 

[DC_fan]

Having a team from PNG in the NRL is not going to happen. The competition doesn't need a team from there.

With respect to the people of PNG it is really a third world country and could not support a team in the NRL.

No player would take his family to that country while he played for the local team. We only have to look at what happens when the Presidents 13 travels to Port Moresby to play.

To suggest a team from PNG representing the people of that country could play out of an Australian city like Darwin is quite silly. It just would not work and the people of PNG would not form any allegiance to that team.

Nice thought but its not going to happen

 

[stormbati]

Of all Pacific Islands, Fiji are the best chance, but even Fiji isn't good enough.

 

[Non Terminator]

Papua New Guinea have a great amount of players. I would love to see them given a go at the clubs down here.

There are quite a few making their name, despite not all of them preparing to represent their country in the future (whilst Origin and Australian/NZ caps are on offer).

 

[Eels Dude]

I don't understand the logic of people suggesting a PNG side, FFS it's a third world country. Having a side there is not going to create any extra revenue for the game whatsoever. It's not going to increase money earned from tv deals etc. It would cost 20 million or so to set the team up initially, another 100 million to build a proper stadium, money that PNG should be spending elsewhere. They have absolutely no chance of making ends meet financially. If Melbourne lose 6 million a year, a PNG side would lose 15 million. There is also no long term gain from this idea whatsoever. If league was the national sport in Sierra Leone does that mean the NRL should have a team there?

 

[Iafeta]

Done a little bit more reading about PNG...

Only 18% of its people leave in urban centres - a lot are nomadic tribes
1/3 population live on about $1.25 per day
Only 5 physicians per 100,000
Officially rated as having an HIV epidemic
GDP per capita is only $2,166
Rated 148th on the last Human Development Index scale (liveability etc, based on things like life expectancy, education, standard of living, GDP per capita)

If I was a league player, I'd be demanding squillions to even think of going to live there. I reckon I'd feel a hammy twinge the week before the trip to Port Moresby if I was playing for another club as well. We PNG in the comp like we need an extra bullet created hole in the head.