Teams competing at the PNG National Rugby League Competition. 14 August 2024 Photo: Facebook / PNG National Rugby League Competition
Papua New Guinea's hopes of securing a spot in Australia's National Rugby League (NRL) could be confirmed in a couple of months time, PNG NRL Bid chairman has revealed.
According to a report by Business Advatage PNG, the bidding Wapu Sonk said a decision could be made "before the end of the year".
"We are at a point where decisions could be made this week, hopefully on the PNG side of government, and after the decision is made, then the Australian cabinet will meet to make a decision on supporting the bid," Sonk was quoted as saying by Business Advantage PNG last week.
PNG is hoping - with the backing of Australia providing up to $600 million in funding - they can start playing in the NRL as the 18th team in the competition as early as 2028.
Rugby league is considered PNG's national sport.
"Australia's decision to include a PNG team in the NRL has the potential to strengthen cultural diplomacy, drive economic development, and enhance regional influence.and the potential for a PNG team in the NRL the development and growth of league in the country," PNG's National Research Institute's, Hafford Norea, wrote in a te in
According to the report, Sonk, a Managing Director of Kumul Petroleum Holdings, said while "majority of the funding" would be for PNG, some of that money would go to supporting investments in rugby league other Pacific island nations.
"The [proposed] date of our entry is 2028, and hopefully an announcement of the team entering the competition will happen before the end of this year," Sonk said
In June, PNG NRL Bid chief executive Andrew Hill told ABC Pacifc discussions between the PNG and Australian governments and the NRL were occurring on a weekly basis.
"We are very confident that PNG, and the Pacific broadly, is extremely important to rugby league and the NRL, and equally rugby league is very important to PNG," he told the Pacific Beat programme.
"I am very confident that the submission that we put to the NRL, with the support of the PNG and Australian government, will have us in a very strong position to become the next NRL team," he added.