I got this from p51 of
20 Years In The Saddle North Queensland Cowboys 1995-2014 by Neil Cadigan.
A close connection with Papua New Guinea rugby league was an early aspect of the Cowboys' bid, and several promotional visits and development programs were put in place to tap into the raw talent of the country that boasts league as its national sport.
One of the Cowboys' earliest signings was Aquila Emil, a PNG Test icon who was regarded as a Wally Lewis figure in his country, and the club also looked at several other Kumals (PNG international players).
In 1992-93 Kerry Boustead made several trips to PNG, often with promotions man Doug Kingston and later with coach Grant Bell as they developed relations and some fascinating memories.
Kingston remembers a time when he and Boustead arrived with 400 Cowboys t-shirts to sell and a handful of original jerseys, but as they went through customs an officer questioned the contents and told them that no more than 100 items could be brought in with passengers. The quick-thinking Boustead asked the man if he likes rugby league and offered him a personally signed t-shirt. They were soon waved through.
Inaugural coach Grant Bell talks of coaching and development visits and being mobbed by league-loving locals. He took a squad there for a trial in late 1994, drawing a capacity crowd and being swamped by hundreds of league-mad fans as he walked to the ground for the match, in a sea of shoulder-to-shoulder supporters.
A later planned visit did not have as happy an ending. It was in 1994 and Kingston, guest signing Dean Schifilliti (who was out injured while playing for Souths) and Bell had driven to Cairns airport for a mid-morning flight to PNG. Upon arrival there was a message to urgently call their contact in Port Moresby.
Kingston rang and found pandemonium there after it had been reported in the local daily newspaper, the Post Courier that a story had appeared in the Townsville Bulletin claiming that Emil, who was playing in the Townsville competition to acclimatise before the Cowboys first season in 1995, would not be up to standard as an ARL player. Kingston was advised as the story has been written by him and quoted Bell, they would not be safe when they arrived in Port Moresby and a virtual lynch mob would be there to meet them at the airport.
The story had in fact been written by journalist Doug Gorrell, not Kingston, and Bell's comments were not as mischievous as the Papua New Guineans had been told; however, they aborted the visit.
Emil was the only PNG player to be signed by the Cowboys, although they were close to also acquiring utility back David Buko who, in 1999, played briefly for Wests Magpies the season before they merged with Balmain to form Wests Tigers.
Aquila did not settle well and, after playing several reserve grade games in 1995, homesickness battered his desire to make it in the NRL and he asked to be released to return to his homeland. In February 2011 he was tragically murdered at age 44, shot through a car window in cold blood by a former government officer after a minor argument when leaving a Port Moresby nightclub. The former chief of staff to Prime Minister Michael Somare and later head of Papua New Guinea's climate change office, Dr Theo Yasause, was sentenced to 30 years in jail for the murder.
Sadly, in 2001 David Buko also died too young, from typhoid at age 40.
The corruption, violence and poor living standards in PNG make it impossible for it to field a team in the NRL.
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