PNG and Cairns investigate joint NRL bid

[Eion]

I think most on here are looking at the short problems that png have and not the bigger picture. Yes security, fraud/corruption, crime, female abuse, and poverty are all issue that face png. But this still doesn’t change the fact that rugby league is a religion there. The longer term benefits that Rugby league has, is the potential to be a complete game changer for png as a whole. I personally think the Nrl should create a department (or significantly increase-if one exists) that looks after overseas programs in line with Dfat and Aus gov trade representatives. Nrl has the chance to become bigger than rugby league. Actually educate, and teach png people the important values of a normal 1st world country. 100’s of millions of dollars get spent in just png let alone the pacific by he Aus gov and by leveraging that relationship we could teach kids, females and males the right way to act. Stop the violence, promote education, std programs, female empowerment programs etc. Australia are currently spending millions on a undersea internet cable. The Nrl could provide nrl games and educational programs to the masses via there online media department and receive large funding grants from both Aus and png gov.

The issues that face png are issues that rugby league can help fix. By having a png team with enough conditions in place could be massive for png’s growth. Hell, even the Aus gov could fund the team if its shown that It will create enough benefits for the png population. As for player talent, I see no problem there. Png team don’t need Aus players they have there own.

After the inclusion of Perth and Brisbane 2, the superstars of the Nrl will be spread around 18 teams not 16. The growth of the game will be turbo charged and png and nz2/pacific team won’t require too many Aus players at all.

Png if done right could be incredibly huge for Nrl and the png people. The issues that a png team face can all be mitigated with the right processes put in place.

While the sentiment is great mate, for the NRL to be involved with a permanent team would require massive government ongoing support. And then it would also require massive private backing too.

Not sure I’d youve been there, but Moresby is an utter basket case and under no circumstances would I live there, let alone take a wife and kids. There’s nothing short term about their issues, they are decades off getting anywhere near safe. It’s compound living.

Somebody would need to sort out every aspect from travelling fans, transportation to and from hotels (because you literally cannot leave your hotel for security reasons) to special arrangements including cap dispensations / bonuses to get players and staff to live there. The ongoing costs would be huge and would get siphoned off at every opportunity thanks to corruption.

No way would I go near it if I’m the nrl.

 

[Eion]

Except if a PNG team meant Perth missed out...if that’s the case I’m all for it.

 

[taipan]

Except if a PNG team meant Perth missed out...if that’s the case I’m all for it.

But the whining would continue.

 

[Eion]

But the whining would continue.

It’s a Pom, what they do.

 

[Peet]

[QUOTE="This just seems like an excuse for the Cairns mayor to go on a junket.[/QUOTE]
First thing I thought of. Impossible bid, but a nice free trip to Sydney for the mayor.

 

[Stormwarrior82]

While the sentiment is great mate, for the NRL to be involved with a permanent team would require massive government ongoing support. And then it would also require massive private backing too.

Not sure I’d youve been there, but Moresby is an utter basket case and under no circumstances would I live there, let alone take a wife and kids. There’s nothing short term about their issues, they are decades off getting anywhere near safe. It’s compound living.

Somebody would need to sort out every aspect from travelling fans, transportation to and from hotels (because you literally cannot leave your hotel for security reasons) to special arrangements including cap dispensations / bonuses to get players and staff to live there. The ongoing costs would be huge and would get siphoned off at every opportunity thanks to corruption.

No way would I go near it if I’m the nrl.

How about now?

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/bo...png-s-entry-into-the-nrl-20180630-p4zopr.html

This is great news in my opinion. Nrl should jump at this chance. After Perth and Brisbane 2 this could be the 19th team.

 

[Eion]

How about now?

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/bo...png-s-entry-into-the-nrl-20180630-p4zopr.html

This is great news in my opinion. Nrl should jump at this chance. After Perth and Brisbane 2 this could be the 19th team.

Let the Australian taxpayer pay for a foreign NRL side, forever? Not for me thanks.

 

[Rabbitoad]

How about now?

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/bo...png-s-entry-into-the-nrl-20180630-p4zopr.html

This is great news in my opinion. Nrl should jump at this chance. After Perth and Brisbane 2 this could be the 19th team.

PNG ahead of a second Brisbane team.

Queensland needed NRL assistance to keep a third team alive. I wouldn't be rushing to give them a fourth anytime soon.

Let the Australian taxpayer pay for a foreign NRL side, forever? Not for me thanks.

Well that money is going to be spent on foreign investment anyway.

Better it be spent on something (NRL) that gives back to the Australian economy.

 

[Eion]

PNG ahead of a second Brisbane team.

Queensland needed NRL assistance to keep a third team alive. I wouldn't be rushing to give them a fourth anytime soon.


Well that money is going to be spent on foreign investment anyway.

Better it be spent on something (NRL) that gives back to the Australian economy.

I find it weird. We give millions to png already. All this is doing is proving a PNG bid is unsustainable.

 

[Stormwarrior82]

Let the Australian taxpayer pay for a foreign NRL side, forever? Not for me thanks.

Don’t be so negative. Of course this png Nrl side would come with conditions. It should. And If the Aus gov do it right, with sponsorship and the Nrl funding the Aus tax payer might get money back after 5 yrs.

In my opinion the png gov, Aus gov in conjunction with Nrl have the best chance to create serious change in the social issues that png do have. Just giving corrupt png gov, aid money to do as they wish isnt the answer either.

 

[Eion]

Don’t be so negative. Of course this png Nrl side would come with conditions. It should. And If the Aus gov do it right, with sponsorship and the Nrl funding the Aus tax payer might get money back after 5 yrs.

In my opinion the png gov, Aus gov in conjunction with Nrl have the best chance to create serious change in the social issues that png do have. Just giving corrupt png gov, aid money to do as they wish isnt the answer either.

It’s not about being negative. The question is whether PNG should be the next expansion club.

I’m very fond of PNG, but cannot see an ongoing NRL side based on Moresby as viable. At least not for decades.

And a less than vague labor party conference unfunded sound bite does nothing to sway my opinion this. We spend over $500m there in aid as it is and PNG are notoriously corrupt.

Don’t get me wrong, if a PNG side (beyond all common or business sense) gets in I will be supporting it and wishing it all the best. But there’s no way I would vote for it in the first place.

 

[Diesel]

How about now?

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/bo...png-s-entry-into-the-nrl-20180630-p4zopr.html

This is great news in my opinion. Nrl should jump at this chance. After Perth and Brisbane 2 this could be the 19th team.

Tax payers funding RL? I thought it was just AFL.

Interesting concept and it’s about time someone in Canberra spent money on RL

 

[Stormwarrior82]

It’s not about being negative. The question is whether PNG should be the next expansion club.

I’m very fond of PNG, but cannot see an ongoing NRL side based on Moresby as viable. At least not for decades.

And a less than vague labor party conference unfunded sound bite does nothing to sway my opinion this. We spend over $500m there in aid as it is and PNG are notoriously corrupt.

Don’t get me wrong, if a PNG side (beyond all common or business sense) gets in I will be supporting it and wishing it all the best. But there’s no way I would vote for it in the first place.

For the record I think Perth and Brisbane 2 are in front of a png team but a 19th team (creates a bye and international exposure) and also doesn’t dilute the Nrl because they can use 90% of there own players.

 

[The Great Dane]

The Australian tax payer paying for a PNG based professional football team to compete in an Australian based competition seems like a very dodgy prospect.

For one thing the NRL would have to get very cozy with specific political players, and probably wouldn't be able to claim that they are politically neutral anymore unless this issue is universally bipartisan (which is highly unlikely, as it'd almost certainly turn into a political football or a vote buyer), which would be a very bad thing for a million different reasons. It also seems like an open invitation for corrupt individuals to use it as a means to an ends to abuse the system (especially when a country like PNG that has massive corruption problems is involved), and again that isn't something that the NRL wants to be involved with.

Another thing is what happens when the inevitable happens and the Gov pulls it's funding? Well the NRL is left with a club that almost certainly isn't sustainable, and for obvious reasons that wouldn't be a good thing either.

So yeah, the NRL should definitely avoid an arrangement like this...

 

[The Great Dane]

Tax payers funding RL? I thought it was just AFL.

Interesting concept and it’s about time someone in Canberra spent money on RL

Canberra spends money on RL all the time, hell even the ACT government spends money on RL all the time (though more often than not it's begrudgingly so under the current administration, but I digress).

I think the words you were looking for were "Interesting concept and it’s about time someone in Parliament spent money on RL"...

For the record I think Perth and Brisbane 2 are in front of a png team but a 19th team (creates a bye and international exposure) and also doesn’t dilute the Nrl because they can use 90% of there own players.

LOL, and the rest!

There're at least 5-8 places that are better placed to support an NRL team then PNG, more if you count places in Asia, South Africa, etc, that may not be interested in ever supporting a team but hypothetically could in a Wolfpack style situation or if the NRL were to attempt to aggressively take a share of their sports market...

It's sad cause there's nowhere in the universe more deserving of a team or that it'd be better (in an emotional sense) to see get a team, but PNG is way, way down the list of prospective markets, and it's all because of circumstances largely outside of the NRL or RL at larges control.

 

[Stormwarrior82]

LOL, and the rest!

There're at least 5-8 places that are better placed to support an NRL team than PNG, more if you count places in Asia, South Africa, etc, that may not be interested in ever be interested in supporting a team but hypothetically could in a Wolfpack style situation or if the NRL were to attempt to aggressively take a share of their sports market...

It's sad cause there's nowhere on in the universe more deserving of a team or that it'd be better (in an emotional sense) to see get a team, but PNG is way, way down the list of prospective markets, and it's all because of circumstances largely outside of the NRL or RL at larges control.

I couldn’t disagree with you more!

So you would put a team from countries that don’t even know what rugby league is let alone play it in front of a Nrl png side? Are you on drugs?

Do you realize a png team won the qld Intrust Cup?

This day and age, giving aid to countries in the pacific region needs to be done within arms reach due to corruption. The Aus gov can’t run the side because they have a conflict of interest so that is why it needs to go through a 3rd party. The Nrl can be the itermediatary. The right structure that contracts the Aus federal gov/png gov to funding and a independent board that has Aus/Nrl/png members to oversee the Organisation would be ideal. Having a tinkler like funding contract with money set aside could work. With the right structure anything is possible. To just dismiss it outright like you are doing is a big mistake. The world is bigger than Australia and with 8mil people in png from a marketing, tv exposure, sponsorship point of view you can’t go wrong.

 

[The Great Dane]

I couldn’t disagree with you more!

So you would put a team from countries that don’t even know what rugby league is let alone play it in front of a Nrl png side? Are you on drugs?

Actually no I didn't say that at all, I gave a relatively specific hypothetical under which circumstances I'd give them a club over a PNG side...

See the difference between you and me is you are interested in an ideal, what would be ideal in a perfect world, where as I understand that there's no such thing as a perfect world and as such I'm only interested in what's practical.
A team based in (e.g.) Singapore that draws 5k people a game, that is owned and operated by a rich investment group (or whatever) that has connections to corporate Singapore and other Asian businesses that are using the team as a vehicle to get exposure for their brands in Australia (or Australian corporates using the team as a vehicle to get exposure for theirs in Asia) or even a Japanese style company owned team, that has a funding agreement in place for the next 10 or so years, is more practical then a team based in PNG that in theory could sellout a 30k seater every week but still wouldn't financially sustainable and liable to fall over at the drop of a hat.

Do you realize a png team won the qld Intrust Cup?

They could win it for 50 years in a row, that still wouldn't make them a sustainable business without being heavily subsidised by any amalgamation of the PNG gov, AUS gov, and NRL, not to mention all the societal reasons why it's just a bad idea for the foreseeable future.

This day and age, giving aid to countries in the pacific region needs to be done within arms reach due to corruption. The Aus gov can’t run the side because they have a conflict of interest so that is why it needs to go through a 3rd party. The Nrl can be the itermediatary. The right structure that contracts the Aus federal gov/png gov to funding and a independent board that has Aus/Nrl/png members to oversee the Organisation would be ideal. Having a tinkler like funding contract with money set aside could work. With the right structure anything is possible. To just dismiss it outright like you are doing is a big mistake. The world is bigger than Australia and with 8mil people in png from a marketing, tv exposure, sponsorship point of view you can’t go wrong.

I'm not dismissing it outright, in fact I gave a very fair post why for multiple reasons (and I could have given more) it was a bad idea...

I also don't accept your assertions that A. funding a professional football team is a sensible use of international aid to a country (especially a country like PNG that could desperately use the funding in a hundred different areas) or B. that by the NRL acting as an intermediary that this plan would be significantly less susceptible to corruption...

Also the irony of the assertion that I'm failing to see the world outside of Australia when it was I that brought up the potential of Toronto Wolfpack style Asian and/or South African clubs (not to mention more clubs in NZ by the way, which you earlier stated that you'd have a PNG team in front of) that hypothetically could actually be sustainable businesses without the NRL wading into the minefields of both national and international politics and dodgy uses of international aid, which you proceeded to effectively dismiss outright (which is also ironic) isn't lost on me at all.

 

[Perth Red]

They would need to generate at least $10mill a year in revenue. They’d have no chance of doing that. Pipe dream.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

What happens to the PNG NRL team when there is a change of Government policy in Australia and the venture is no longer supported financially?

PNG is perfect in the QLD Cup providing talent to the NRL which helps the NRL with player depth when they expand and helps the Kumuls have a deeper, more professional player pool to select players from. Give the hunters another decade in the QLD Cup and they will be just as much a force as Tonga are today.

 

[Diesel]

I haven’t seen a Hunters home game, are they well supported for crowds at home?

Qld Cup entrance fee would be a fraction of NRL