Papua New Guinea Rugby League History and OverviewPapua New Guinea first came into contact during the gold rush in the 1930s through Australian miners. Australian soldiers stationed in the country during and after the Second World War reintroduced the sport and in 1949 and the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League was founded. It quickly became a popular spectator sport.
During the 1960s rugby league grew to be the clear national sport of the country. Despite being the most popular spectator sport, rugby league was mainly played by Australians and New Zealanders at this time. It wasn't until over the following decade did participation numbers grow to reflect spectator numbers. The governing body for rugby league in Papua New Guinea became members of the Rugby League International Federation in 1974 and the national team's first ever Test match was a 40-12 home defeat by Great Britain a year later. They first competed in the Rugby League World Cup in the 1985-89 competition. In a sign of the RLIF growing confidence in the international game, Papua New Guinea were invited to participate in the newly formatted World Cups of (1986 - 1988) and (1989 - 1992). Papua New Guinea did not disappoint with a shock victory over New Zealand 24 - 22 in Port Moresby in 1986. In the 1995 World Cup Papua New Guinea were grouped with New Zealand and Tonga. The first match against Tonga went down to the wire with the final score locked at 28 all. The Kumuls played the Kiwis in their final pool game and put in a respectable performance before eventually running out of steam losing 22 - 6. In the 2000 World Cup PNG made history by finishing top of their pool and qualifying for the quarter finals for the first time. Led by Adrian Lam PNG went on to lose the game against Wales but had showed the rest of the rugby league world how far they had progressed. When the players returned to PNG they were greeted by thousands of PNG fans. Rugby League in PNG had come of age. PNG were automatic qualifiers for the 2008 World Cup. They were grouped with Australia, New Zealand and England in the super pool. PNG nearly upset England in the first match of the Pool but eventually went down 32 - 22. The Kumuls also preformed well against Kiwis and Kangaroos scoring a try in each game against there much fancied opponents. All in all Papua New Guinea showed pride and passion for the jersey and made another statement to the NRL regarding the ongoing battle to have a Port Moresby team included in the NRL. Adrian Lam also called for more international games for Papua New Guinea to help with the ongoing development of Kumuls. During the 2008 World Cup, PNGRL put forward a proposal to have a PNG based team enter the NRL by 2015. The plan is to have the proposed team enter into the QLD Cup by 2010. PNG will need to rally local businesses and the government to assist in the re-development of Port Moresby Oval to meet NRL standards. Elements of the Australian Government have backed the proposal which would give the only nation to claim Rugby League as there number one national sport a huge boost at local and international levels. The PNG government are willing to put 20 million dollars towards a new stadium and their NRL ambitions. In early 2009 Papua New Guinea were ranked 6th in World seedings by the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF). Papua New Guinea defeated Tonga and the Cook Islands to win the 2009 Pacific Cup competition. On the back of this win Papua New Guinea secured a place in the 2010 Four Nations tournament and lost to England, New Zealand and Australia. Papua New Guinea has qualified for 2013 World cup in England. |
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Papua New Guinea Kumuls ResultsPAPUA NEW GUINEA INTERNATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE RESULTS
......................................................................... 2014 12 October : Prime Minister 13. Australia 36 - PNG 16 - Kokopo 19 October: Test Match : PNG 18 - Tonga 16 : Lae 2013 Results .......................................................................... 2013 Rugby League World Cup - England/Europe 8 November PNG 10 - New Zealand 56 4 November PNG 4 - Samoa 34 27 October, PNG 8 - France 9 .................................................... 9 October, PNG 38 - Scotland 20 (England International Friendly) 29 Setember, PNG PM XIII 10 - Australia PM XIII 50 (Kokopo) 8 February: South Sydney 38 - PNG Residence 12 2012 Results Sep 23rd Papua New Guinea PM XIII 18 - Australia PM XIII 24 2011 Results Nov 6th Papua New Guinea 26 - Fiji 0 (Test Match) Oct 30th Papua New Guinea 12 - Fiji 26 (Test Match) Sep 25th Papua New Guinea PM XIII 22 - Australia PM XIII 36 2010 Results Nov 6th Papua New Guinea 10 - England 36 (Four Nations) Oct 30th New Zealand 76 - Papua New Guinea 12 (Four Nations) Oct 24th Australia 42 - Papua New Guinea 0 (Four Nations) Sep 26th Papua New Guinea PM XIII 18 - Australian PM XIII 30 2009 Results Nov 1st Papua New Guinea 42 - Cook Islands 14 (Pacific Cup Final) Oct 25th Papua New Guinea 44 - Tonga 14 (Pacific Cup) Sep 27th Australian PM XIII 42 - Papua New Guinea PM XIII 18 Jul 25th Papua New Guinea 14 - Fiji 2 (Hardware Haus Cup) Jul 22nd Papua New Guinea 54 - Fiji 10 (Hardware Haus Cup) Mar 7th Samoa 26 - Papua New Guinea Residents 18 2008 Results Nov 9th Australia 46 - Papua New Guinea 6 (World Cup) Nov 1st New Zealand 48 - Papua New Guinea 6 (World Cup) Oct 25th England 32 - Papua New Guinea 22 (World Cup) Sep 28th Australian PM XIII 54 - Papua New Guinea PM XIII 30 2007 Results Nov 11th France 22 - Papua New Guinea 16 (Test Series) Nov 3rd France 38 - Papua New Guinea 26 (Test Series) Oct 30th Papua New Guinea 28 - France A 12 Oct 7th Papua New Guinea 20 - France A 6 Oct 28th Wales 50 - Papua New Guinea 10 (Test Match) Sep 23rd Australia PM XIII 24 - Papua New Guinea PM XIII 24 2006 Results Sep Australia PM XIII 28 - Papua New Guinea PM XIII 8 2005 Results Oct Australia 70 - Papua New Guinea 22 2004 Results Oct Australia 32 - Papua New Guinea 20 2003 Results Sep Australia PM XIII 32 - Papua New Guinea 0 Sep Papua New Guinea 24 - Juinor Kangaroos 22 2002 Results Sep Junior Kangaroos 28 - Papua New Guinea PM XIII 16 2001 Results Oct 7th Australia 54 - Papua New Guinea 12 (Test Match) New Zealand 38 - Papua New Guinea 8 (Test Match) 2000 Results Nov 12th Wales 22 - Papua New Guinea 8 (World Cup Quarter Final) Nov 6th Papua New Guinea 30 - Tonga 22 (World Cup) Nov 2nd Papua New Guinea 16 - South Afr 0 (World Cup) Oct 28th Papua New Guinea 23 - France 20 (World Cup) Oct 7th Australia 82 - Papua New Guinea 0 (Test Match) Sep Papua New Guinea 22 - Tonga 18 1999 Results Australia 36 - Papua New Guinea 6 1998 Results Papua New Guinea 54 - Tonga 12 Papua New Guinea 44 - Tonga 28 Oct Australia 56 - Papua New Guinea 0 (Test Match) Papua New Guinea 16 - Fiji 14 Papua New Guinea 34 - Fiji 12 Fiji 14 - Papua New Guinea 10 Papua New Guinea 46 - Cook Islands 6 1997 Results Papua New Guinea 34 - Cook Islands 14 Papua New Guinea 38 - Cook Islands 14 1996 Results Oct 20th Australia 52 - Papua New Guinea 6 (Test Match) Oct 15th New Zealand 62 - Papua New Guinea 8 (Test Match) Great Britain 32 - Papua New Guinea 30 Papua New Guinea 56 - Tonga 16 |
1995 Results Oct 13th New Zealand 22 - Papua New Guinea 6 (World Cup) Oct 10th Tonga 28 - Papua New Guinea 28 (World Cup) BARLA 28 - Papua New Guinea 18 Sep Papua New Guinea 18 - France 16 (Test Match) Sep Australia 77 - Papua New Guinea 8 (Test Match) 1994 Results Oct 23rd New Zealand 30 - Papua New Guinea 16 (Test Series) Oct 16th New Zealand 24 - Papua New Guinea 12 (Test Series) 1993 Results Papua New Guinea 35 - Fiji 24 1992 Results Jul 15th Australia 36 - Papua New Guinea 14 (World Cup) Jul 5th New Zealand 66 - Papua New Guinea 10 (World Cup) Papua New Guinea 38 - France 8 (Test Series) France 28 - Papua New Guin 26 (Test Series) Great Britain 20 - Papua New Guinea 14 (Test Match) 1991 Results Nov 24th France 28 - Papua New Guinea 14 (World Cup) Nov 9th Great Britain 56 - Papua New Guinea 4 (World Cup) Oct 13th Australia 40 - Papua New Guinea 6 (World Cup & Test Series) Oct 6th Australia 58 - Papua New Guinea 2 (Test Series) Jul 7th France 20 - Papua New Guinea 18 (World Cup) Oct 17th Wales 68 - Papua New Guinea 0 1990 Results Aug 11th New Zealand 18 - Papua New Guinea 10 (World Cup & Test Series) Aug 5th New Zealand 36 - Papua New Guinea 4 (Test Series) Jun 2nd Great Britain 40 - Papua New Guinea 8 (World Cup & Test Series) May Papua New Guinea 20 - Great Britain 18 (Test Series) 1988 Results Jul 20th Australia 70 - Papua New Guinea 8 (World Cup) Jul 10th New Zealand 66 - Papua New Guinea14 (World Cup) May 22nd Great Britain 42 - Papua New Guinea 22 (World Cup) 1987 Results Nov 15th France 21 - Papua New Guinea 4 (World Cup & Test Series) Nov 9th France 20 - Papua New Guinea 20 (Test Series) Oct 24th Great Britain 42 - Papua New Guinea 0 (World Cup) 1986 Results Oct 4th Australia 62 - Papua New Guinea 12 (World Cup) Aug 17th Papua New Guinea 24 - New Zealand 22 (World Cup & Test Series) Aug 10th New Zealand 36 - Papua New Guinea 26 (Test Series) 1984 Results Aug 5th Great Britain 38 - Papua New Guinea 20 (Test Match) 1982 Results Sep 25th Australia 38 - Papua New Guinea 2 (Test Match) Jan 25th New Zealand 56 - Papua New Guinea 5 (Test Match) 1981 Results Jun Papua New Guinea 28 - France 8 (Test Match) 1980 Results Sep Australia 20 - Papua New Guinea 18) 1979 Results BARLA 42 - Papua New Guinea 0 1977 Results England 44 - Papua New Guinea 4 1976 Results Oct Australia 49 - Papua New Guinea 18 1975 Results England 40 - Papua New Guinea 12 Foundation Year - 1975 International Team - Kumuls Highest finish in World Cup - Quarter Final (2000) Top level domestic competition - The Digicel Cup consist of 10 teams: Simbu Warriors, Goroka Lahanis, Mt Hagen Eagles, Enga Mioks, Mendi Muruks, Lae Snax Tigers, Rabaul Gurias, Port Moresby Vipers, Hela Wigmen (New), and Gulf Isapeas (New) Season runs from May to October. Information source: Rugbyleagueplanet/Wikedia/pngkumuls/ |
