League is a mainstay

SUNDAY’s Prime Minister’s XIII match was significant from a purely rugby league perspective in that it showed Australia that, for once, a team made up entirely of PNG-based players can compete with National Rugby League ca­libre opponents.
That is one big step for Papua New Guinea.
The match was won by a Scott Prince-led Australian PM’s XIII 24-18 but what the scoreline does not indicate was just how close the game actually was and how the result could easily have gone the other way.
We have what it takes and now the Australians know it.
We could have won that match; in fact we should have if not for a lapse in concentration in the dying stages coupled with what looked like a contentious try that won the Australians the match.
The question now is: What do we need to do to build on so that we stay competitive and make the transition from rank outsiders to contenders?
PNG rugby league great and national coach Adrian Lam says the way forward is to make sure the “structures” are in place and that we continue to lift the stan­dard of the game.
It’s an ongoing job, one that requires prudent mana­gement and visionary lea­dership.
That leadership has unfortunately been lacking at the sport’s governing body for some time.
The PNG National Rugby Football League (PNGRFL) has been rocked by power struggles, disenfranchisement of smaller leagues, no clear direction and a perennial problem in a severe lack of funding.
This has in no small way contributed to the stagnation of league at all levels.
But things are changing for the better and Sunday was a clear indication that although the sport maybe at sixes and sevens admi­nistratively, the playing stock is still of a good qua­lity.
Furthermore, an estimated 10,000-plus crammed into the Lloyd Robson Oval to see the match.
There were at least 3,000 more fans outside the venue, on fences, on roof tops and any other vantage point trying desperately to watch the match.
Scenes like this were repeated a week before during the Digicel Cup grand final between the Mendi Muruks and the Rabaul Gurias.
Bear in mind these are conservative estimates as there are no proper figures on crowd numbers, let alone the numbers that were milling outside the gate.
Any other single sport in this country would be hard-pressed to generate that kind of attendance figure.
Rugby league has so much going for it that it real­ly should be in a much better place than it is today.
We can lament deficien­cies in this area or that but we should also be thankful that we have talent and a parochial
fan base as well as government and corporate support that should be enough to drive development and progress. 
One of the great goals that the national government
has also backed is the eventual realisation of having a team in the NRL, arguably the world’s strongest and best rugby league competition.
It is a dream that was began in 2009 by the Somare regime, and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has also thrown his support behind the venture.
To this end, the PNG NRL Bid office has done commendable groundwork in ensuring the player development is structured and players are taught from an early age what it takes to be a professional athlete and are equipped not just with the basic knowledge and skills to play at a high standard but also the right attitude for success.
The staging of the junior zone championships last week was the culmination of several months of tireless effort by the team.
It is hard to say exactly when PNG will be able to enter a team in the NRL
but judging from the weekend’s display and the progress of junior development and the fact that we have the abi­lity to easily fill out a 20,000 to 30,000-capacity stadium every weekend indicated that time is not far away.