A team from Papua New Guinea (PNG) will join Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) competition in the next four years.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government would support a PNG team to enter the NRL no later than 2028 and partner with the Australian Rugby League Commission to promote rugby league across PNG, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
“A Papua New Guinea NRL team is a game-changer for Australia’s relationship with PNG and a unifying force – no two countries have a greater passion for rugby league,” Albanese said in a statement.
“Partnering on rugby league is a genuine and powerful way of building lasting ties between our peoples, and ensuring long-term development, social and economic outcomes for PNG and the Pacific.
“Our partnership will create new opportunities for girls’ and women’s rugby league across PNG and the Pacific, recognising the power of sports programs in championing inclusion and improving gender equality.”
PNG Prime Minister James Marape said a PNG team would represent not just sporting excellence but the enduring partnership between the two countries as PNG prepared to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence from Australia in 2025.
“This one team will be for one people, one country, one nation, a national unifier,” Marape said in the statement.
Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman Peter V’landys said the Australian Government would contribute $600 million and the PNG government $150 million to support the new team.
Albanese and Marape made the announcement in the PNG capital of Port Moresby.
Formed in 1998 following the merger of the Australian Rugby League and the Super League, the NRL has 16 teams from Australia and one from New Zealand in a sport which has been played professionally in Australia since 1908.