Papua New Guinea NRL team
{{Short description|Future professional rugby league team}}
{{About|the future professional NRL team|the semi-professional Queensland Cup team|Papua New Guinea Hunters|the national men's rugby league team|Papua New Guinea national rugby league team}}
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| founded = 2024
(To begin playing in 2028)
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| ground = National Football Stadium
| capacity = 14,800
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| league = National Rugby League
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An as yet unnamed professional rugby league football team based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea will compete in Australia's National Rugby League from the 2028 season.
The inclusion of a Papua New Guinea-based team in the NRL was announced on 12 December 2024, as part of the Pacific Rugby League Partnership involving the Australian Rugby League Commission and Australian Government, in which AU$600 million in government funding will support the new team as well as grassroots development and other community initiatives in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific islands.{{Cite web|date=12 December 2024|title=United in the stands: PNG NRL team to transform region|url=https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/12/12/united-in-the-stands-png-nrl-team-to-transform-region/ |access-date=12 December 2024|first=Brad|last=Walter|website=National Rugby League|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=12 December 2024|title=ARLC and Federal Government confirm historic Pacific Rugby League Partnership|url=https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/12/12/arlc-and-federal-government-confirm-historic-pacific-rugby-league-partnership/|access-date=13 December 2024|website=National Rugby League|language=en}}
The team will be the 19th in the NRL, with the ARLC agreeing to a $50m deal with the Western Australian Government on 24 April 2025, thereby securing a Perth team, the Western Bears, as the 18th team: the Bears will enter the competition in 2027.{{Cite news|date=12 December 2024|title=Australia signs $600m deal to create PNG NRL team; further expansion could be ‘weeks away’|url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/australia-inks-600-million-deal-to-create-png-nrl-team-20241212-p5kxs4.html|last1=Knott|first1=Matthew|last2=Proszenko|first2=Adrian|last3=Chammas|first3=Michael|work=Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=13 December 2024|language=en}}
Background
=Papua New Guinean rugby league in Australia=
{{see also|Rugby league in Papua New Guinea|Expansion of the National Rugby League|Papua New Guinea Hunters}}
Rugby league is the most popular sport in Papua New Guinea{{Cite web|date=8 October 1995|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/island-gods-high-in-a-dream-world-1576603.html|title=Island gods high in a dream world|last=Hadfield|first=Dave|website=The Independent|access-date=13 December 2024|language=en}} and even regarded its national sport,{{Cite web|date=18 December 2023|title=Inside Papua New Guinea's bid to become the 18th team in the NRL|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-18/national-unity-strategy-inside-png-bid-to-enter-the-nrl/103241192|last=Gock|first=Kamin|website=ABC News Australia|access-date=13 December 2024|language=en}} and efforts to launch an NRL team in the country date back no later than 2008, when prime minister Sir Michael Somare announced a Papua New Guinean bid.{{Cite web|date=13 December 2024|title=PNG's NRL prophets preach hope and jobs for future talent, but not everyone is convinced|url=https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/papua-new-guinea-what-does-the-new-nrl-team-mean-to-png/104719084|last=Waide|first=Scott|website=ABC Pacific|access-date=13 December 2024|language=en}} In 2014, the Papua New Guinea Hunters entered the state level Queensland Cup competition, going on to win the premiership in 2017.{{Cite web|date=12 December 2024|title=Packing more than the usual muscle: PNG gets NRL's 18th team|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/packing-more-than-the-usual-muscle-png-gets-nrls-18th-team/5wayp0ozu|last1=Watts|first1=Cameron|last2=Yallop|first2=Rania|website=SBS News|access-date=13 December 2024|language=en}}
In February 2021, PNG Prime Minister James Marape declared his hopes of an NRL side in the country by 2025.{{Cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/western-bears-could-be-latest-bidder-for-a-license-in-an-expanded-nrl-20180222-h0wi7h.html|title='Western Bears': North Sydney Bears back in hunt for NRL return after secret talks with WA group|website=Sydney Morning Herald|date=22 February 2018|access-date=3 March 2018}} Through 2023 and 2024, a Papua New Guinea bid was viewed as a frontrunner to enter the NRL, in light of an Australian Government plan to invest $600 million over a 10-year period in rugby league and socio-economic programs in the country.{{Cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/png-nrl-team-could-be-on-the-horizon-but-is-country-ready/103047798|title=An NRL team could be on the horizon for PNG — but some are worried the country isn't ready|last=Harriman|first=Bethanie|publisher=ABC Australia|date=4 November 2023}} Discussions have included a proposal from ARLC chairman Peter V'landys to offer tax-free status to rugby league players who played for a Papua New Guinea NRL team.{{Cite news|date=22 February 2024|title=Peter V’landys pushes new tax-free plan for rugby franchise in Papua New Guinea|url=https://greekherald.com.au/sports/peter-vlandys-pushes-new-tax-free-plan-for-rugby-franchise-in-papua-new-guinea/|work=The Greek Herald|access-date=13 December 2024|language=en}}
On 12 December, 2024, a Papua New Guinea team in the NRL was formally announced, with the team planned to begin playing in the league in 2028.{{Cite web|date=12 December 2024|title=ARLC and Federal Government confirm historic Pacific Rugby League Partnership|url=https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/12/12/arlc-and-federal-government-confirm-historic-pacific-rugby-league-partnership/|access-date=13 December 2024|website=National Rugby League|language=en}} The name and colours of the team are yet to be determined.
=Security agreement: Australia vs China=
The Papua New Guinean NRL team will be funded by a $600 million package from the Australian government over a ten-year period, as part of the NRL's Pacific Rugby League Partnership which supports and provides investment into grassroots, pathways, and elite rugby league across Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji.
In a separate deal, signed in exchange, the Papua New Guinean Government reaffirmed a security pact with Australia aimed growing relations between Papua New Guinea and China (in addition to other Pacific countries), and China's 2022 policing deal with the Solomon Islands. As part of the deal Papua New Guinea are unable to sign into security agreements with any nation outside the "Pacific Family". If Australia deem Papua New Guinea to be in breach of the security pact, they reserve the right to withdraw funding for the team. In that instance the NRL would then be obligated to axe them from the competition.{{Cite news |last=Snape |first=Jack |date=2024-12-12 |title=Inside PNG’s NRL deal: how the licence was won and what comes next |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/dec/12/explainer-inside-png-nrl-deal-how-the-licence-was-won-and-what-comes-next |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |title=Australia-PNG rugby deal signed to curb China influence |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62zgemkexdo |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}{{Cite news|date=12 December 2024|title=Australia, PNG unveil deal for Papua New Guinea team to enter NRL in 2028|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-12/png-australia-unveil-new-nrl-team/104716250|last=Dziedzic|first=Stephen|work=ABC News Australia|access-date=13 December 2024|language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{NRL}}
{{Rugby League in Papua New Guinea}}
{{NRL expansion clubs}}