NRL Hype & The Affordability Reality: PNG's RL Hype & 'Poor' Supporters Could Make For An Unsustainable Market

In marketing it is stated that demands are wants for specific products backed by an ability to pay.

When it comes to the sport of rugby league in PNG, many people want to watch the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) type quality live games in PNG and if PNG was to host regular two weekly Australian NRL matches, there will be an initially surge in crowds and record numbers but over time this attendance will wane and only a few people will be able to afford tickets to watch these games fortnightly.

There is also some deceiving going on as well. The Australian rugby league commentators often hyped us, Papua New Guineans, about rugby league as a 'religion' in PNG but we are not seeing many of our PNG talents in the Australian NRL. We have always been trying to live up to standards set by the Australian NRL but sadly we have always emerged second rated. This is what happens when we try to live up to standards set by others for us to follow. Therefore we must wake up from these 'feel good' hype and promote our own version of the sport of rugby league to the world. That is, we must bring our difference to the world.

A true measure of the successful progress of the sport of rugby league in PNG, where we can bring our version of the rugby league to the world, will be when we start to attract overseas players to come and play in our PNG NRL competition. To achieve this, lets get China to fund our home competition to rival the Australian NRL. I explored more on this in the article below.

Furthermore it appears both the Australian NRL administrators and PNG are using the Chinese interest in the region to blackmail the Australian Government and Australian tax payers. This is evident as the D-Day for making a decision on the 18th Australian NRL team approach and negotiations ramp up.

As one social commentator commented "PNG's NRL Bid is entertained mostly as a political agenda and is not commercially driven so it is going to kill the sport of Rugby League in the country. Already you can hardly see our local Digicel Cup players wearing the Kumuls jersey! Its a recipe for disaster in killing the game" and this is just starting!

In the next 20 years you can expect more NRL players of PNG heritage playing in the NRL. This is due to two factors: 1. The growing number of professional PNGns already in Australia with their children now in junior leagues in Australia and; 2. The Australian 'Pacific Engagement Visa' which will start in June 2024 and will get 1350 PNG citizens annually to go and work and reside in Australia and this will increase PNG's population diaspora in Australia.

These are sure to increase and improve the number of PNG Kumul reps into the Australian NRL and eventually coming from the Australian NRL and is sure to make our National Rugby League team, the Kumuls, competitive on the world stage. But this will not be a true representation of the growth of the game in PNG as many home grown talents will still struggle to get into the Australian NRL. What we need is to grow our home competition to rival the Australian NRL since this will be a true measure of growing the game locally and globally. For example, should Tonga win the RL World Cup, it does not mean that the game is strong in Tonga with large crowd numbers who are economically empowering the game in Tonga!

What is the point of the Australian rugby league commentators and us in PNG conjuring up 2 million+ supporters who can't afford to buy tickets to fill a 15,000+ capacity stadium, let alone do it fortnightly and buy club merchandise as well as go in our team's colours to support our team?

The Australian NRL marketers will not only measure how many people want their product but also how many are willing and able to buy it.

What is the point of having large fan numbers that can't pay?

Poor PNG rugby league supporters could make for an unsustainable Australian NRL market in PNG.