Rugby League was first introduced into Papua New Guinea during the gold rush in the late 1920’s to early 1930’s, when a large number of Australians descended on the town of Wau in the Morobe Province chasing their dreams of finding riches.

Despite efforts to establish the code, the first attempts didn’t really catch on with the locals taking limited interest in the sport played by foreigners.

Efforts were made to reintroduce the sport again in the1940’s by Australian soldiers positioned in the country during and after the Second World War.  The soldiers would use Rugby League (among other sports) to keep fit, and as well to add a much-welcomed social element to the rigors of war.

With the Australian Armed Forced based out of the country for almost a decade, this gave enough time for Rugby League to establish itself within Papua New Guinea, and by 1949 the PNGRFL was established.

Rugby League continued to grow over the coming years, with the code becoming the national sport of the Pacific country by the 1960’s with large participation and crowd numbers.

The PNGRFL was officially recognised by the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) in 1974, and played their first ever Test Match the following year when the Great Britain Lions defeated the Kumuls 40 – 12 at Lloyd Robinson Oval in Port Moresby.

That same year PNG were welcomed to take part in the inaugural Rugby League Pacific Cup, joining the New Zealand Maori, West Australia and Victoria in the round robin tournament.  The Kumuls would finish the tournament second, losing to the Maori 38 – 13 in the final.

PNG would record their first ever Test victory just two years later when the Kumuls defeated the visiting French Les Chanticleers 37 – 6 in Port Moresby, before putting up convincing performances against New Zealand and France (in France) the following years.

The significant improvement of the Kumuls saw the RLIF welcome PNG to the 1985-1989 Rugby League World Cup.  PNG would only record one victory in that World Cup however it would be a 24 – 22 victory over the New Zealand Kiwis in Port Moresby.

PNG would be an automatic qualifier for the following World Cup that ran from 1989 – 1992, however after their surprise victory over the Kiwis in the previous World Cup, the Kumuls faced far stronger opposition in the next tournament and finished winless despite strong performances against New Zealand and France.

The 1995 World Cup underwent a significant transformation compared to the previous two tournaments that the Kumuls had been involved in, with the number of participants expanding from 5 to 10.

PNG was grouped with New Zealand and Tonga for the tournament and whilst expectations were high, the Kumuls only managed a draw against Tonga (28-all) and a loss against the Kiwis.

Whilst the draw against Tonga was PNG’s best result on foreign soil, it would take five more years before the Kumuls would finally get their first victory against the Papua New Guinea.

This historical moment was in Paris, when the Kumuls recorded a 23 – 20 victory over group hosts, France, before beating South Africa and Tonga to top their group and qualify for their first ever World Cup Finals.

Drawing Wales, the Kumuls unfortunately went down 22 – 8 however they made news back home for being the most successful PNG sporting team at the time and were greeting by thousands of fans when they return to Port Moresby.

PNG’s next two World Cups produced less than desirable results for the Rugby League mad nation.  The next tournament in 2008 saw the Kumuls unfortunately grouped in the ‘Super Pool’ with Australia, England and New Zealand, whilst in 2013, the Kumuls failed to record a win against France, Samoa or New Zealand.

In between those tournaments the Kumuls did take part in the 2010 Four Nations after winning the 2009 Pacific Cup, however struggled against the big three in the tournament.

Keen to change the performance of the national team, the PNGRFL took a number of steps to better develop the national player pool.  Changes included improvements to the national club competition, the Digicel Cup, the inclusion of the PNG Hunters in the Queensland Cup competition and regular matches against the Prime Ministers XIII and annual Pacific Test.

Papua New Guinea has hosted formalised Rugby League competitions throughout the country since the 1940’s, however it wasn’t until 1990 that the first ‘national’ competition was created.

Known as the SP Inter-City Cup, the competition ran from 1990 – 2003 when the old Inter-City Cup competition ended and a new national 8-team competition was launched in 2005. 

The new competition, now known as the Digicel Cup, has continued to grow to now feature 11 sides, with the Lae Tigers winning the 2016 tournament, after defeating the 2015 champions, the Rabaul Agmark Gurias 14 – 8 in the tournament final.

The Lae Tigers are also the Melanesian Club Champions after defeating the Nadi Aviators (Fiji) 40 – 4 in Sigatoka last month.

In addition to the domestic national competition, PNG also have a team in the Queensland Cup (Intrust Super Cup) competition, finishing in the finals in the past two years.

Rugby League continues to grow throughout PNG, with the sport enjoying significant growth in schools, nines and Women’s Rugby League over the past few years. 

The popularity of the sport sees competitions played all year around in the nation, with a series of Nines & Gala events held throughout the summer when the main domestic competitions are not running.

Moniker: Kumuls
Colours: Red, Yellow, Black & White
Coach: Michael Marum
First Test: Great Britain 40 d. Papua New Guinea 12 - 1975
Best World Cup Result: Quarter Finals (2000)

Adrian Lam: Rabul born, Lam, was a highly successful first grader Rugby League player, playing 146 games for the Sydney Roosters and 119 for the Wigan Warriors in a first grade career that stretched for a decade.  Lam holds the record of being the only player to captain both the Queensland State of Origin side and another national team, with Lam playing 14 Origin games, and representing PNG 12 times.

Marcus Bai: Marcus Bai, like Lam, played more than a decade of professional Rugby League, making his first grade debut in 1997 for Hull FC before moving to the Gold Coast Chargers later that year to make a near instant impact on the then Australian Rugby League competition.   After strong performances for the Chargers, Bai was picked up by new club, the Melbourne Storm before finishing his career in England for Leeds and Bradford.  In his decade long career, Bai represented his home country 12 times, and was part of Grand Final victories at Melbourne & Leeds, and World Club Champions victories at Melbourne, Leeds and Bradford. 

Stanley Gene: Gene’s change to play Professional Rugby League came after the 1995 World Cup when Hull KR would offer the versatile player the opportunity to join the East Hull club in 1996.  Gene, who would play 111 games for the Robins, would spend more than 14 years playing in the English system, racking up more than 300 games and 16 Test Caps for the Kumuls.

Heading into the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, let’s look at some of the players who will be integral to the success of the Papua New Guinea in the upcoming tournament.

David Mead: New Broncos signing, and current Kumul captain, David Mead will bring some much-welcomed speed and experience to the PNG line up. An established performer, and a regular first grader, Mead will be one of a few NRL contracted players in the Kumuls line up come this World Cup.

Nene McDonald: Port Moresby born McDonald will be looking to add to his current five caps for the Kumuls come this year’s tournament.  Capable of playing anywhere in the three-quarter line, McDonald and Mead will provide a lot of the attack for this year’s World Cup.

Paul Aiton: Whilst Aiton maybe at the end of his First Grade career, the 200 game veteran will provide the Kumuls with some much welcomed direction around the ruck at this year’s tournament.  A capable Hooker, Aiton has been playing the last few seasons in the Super League after five years at the Panthers and Sharks.

Expectations will be high for the Kumuls at World Cup 2017, with the Papua New Guinea national team hosting three group games at the National Football Stadium in Port Moresby.

Following less than desirable results at the 2008 and 2013 World Cups, and with a passionate home crowd behind them, anything less than making the tournament quarterfinals will be perceived as failure for the Kumuls.

Despite home ground advantage, the Kumuls will face three strong opponents in Wales, Ireland and the USA Hawks.

Papua New Guinea have faced the Welsh on three previous occasions, with the Kumuls yet to record a victory against the Dragons, whilst Ireland and the USA will be unknown opponents for the side.

Still despite these factors, in the tropical conditions of Port Moresby, and with guaranteed capacity crowds cheering for the home team, PNG will go into each of their three games as favourites.

Vs Wales
Played: 3
W 0 – D 0 – L 3
Papua New Guinea v Wales in Port Moresby on 28/10/2017 (On sale soon)

Vs Ireland
Played: 0
W 0 – D 0 – L 0
Papua New Guinea v Ireland in Port Moresby on 05/11/2017 (On sale soon)

Vs USA
Played: 0
W 0 – D 0 – L 0
Papua New Guinea v USA in Port Moresby on 12/11/2017 (On sale soon)

Written by Steve Birchall, RLWC2017 Contributor