Dog attacks and gunfire in PNG RL game..

[MoffOnTou]

JUNIOR KANGAROOS IGNORE BLAZING GUNS AND DOGS TO BEAT PNG
20 October 2002


The Junior Kangaroos ignored a dog attack on one of its players and armed guards firing rifles to post a 36-28 victory over Papua New Guinea in a rugby league international in Port Moresby today.

In a match played under bizarre conditions in searing humidity, Penrith winger Luke Rooney scored the clincher in the 78th minute after PNG led 18-16 at halftime.

But it was an incident following a try four minutes earlier to Australian captain and Bulldogs first division five-eighth Jonathon Thurston which tested the visitors' nerves.

Thurston, who also kicked four goals in the match, scored under the posts and converted his try to give his team a 32-28 lead.

Parts of the 10,500 crowd then surged towards the field but they were held back by guard dogs and security officers firing into the ground.

Junior Kangaroos fullback Steve Irwin became a casualty as the Brisbane Bronco was bitten on the hip by one of the dogs.

Thurston, fresh from winning a first division premiership two weeks ago at Telstra Stadium, commented at the team's hotel tonight: "It was very exciting.

"You don't normally play in a game where's there gunfire going so it's something I'll always remember."

Thurston told the story of players' man-of-the-match and Manly forward Anthony Watmough refusing to go through a planned move after hearing a volley of gunfire coming from the sideline.

Australian coach Shane Flanagan was prepared for some local bias but even he was bewildered when the referee awarded seven straight penalties to the home side, which eventually led to their final try.

"We also had three tries disallowed, it was crazy," Flanagan said. "We did expect it but I didn't know how bad it would be."

Flanagan praised the composure of his youngsters after they trailed 28-26 with 10 minutes to go and defended bravely following the lopsided penalty count.

He said of Thurston's try to put Australia in front: "He just hung in there and didn't change his game too much, he knew it would come.

"Most of our players did, they were pretty good about it. They were up against players who were 34-years-old and they could've easily lost their bundle but they didn't.

"They just hung in there and they got them."

Flanagan predicted Thurston, understudy to Bulldogs star Braith Anasta, would be a name to watch once he bulked up his 77kg frame.

credit: www.nrl.com

wow, pretty crazy! Much like 10yrs ago, when tear gas went off during a touring game involving the Kangaroos. Its a wacky place, but they are passionate league people. Its the only country in the world where league is their national game.

Moffo

 

[I_LUV_AFL]

And to add to that the 10,500 people who attended the game would have had to walk for miles to the game and some would walk for days. The ground would have been chockas and it was all to see a second string PNG side take on an Australian Selction team.
Oh! And there was also a WC qualifying game for RU which PNG won, it attracted 2,500 fans.

 

[MoffOnTou]

good on the papuans for giving union the cold shoulder

Moffo

 

[I_LUV_AFL]

They will have trouble giving union the clod shoulder if they advance to the WC. Add to that a financial benefit and you have a threat to rugby league's absolute dominance over there.

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Tutaki
They will have trouble giving union the clod shoulder if they advance to the WC. Add to that a financial benefit and you have a threat to rugby league's absolute dominance over there.

thats good, i didnt realise league had dominance over union in PNG.

what other countries is this the case (besides australia of course)

 

[Player]

Norfolk Island?

League has always been MUCH bigger than Union in PNG.

Didn't even know PNG had a national RU team until this thread.

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Player
Norfolk Island?

League has always been MUCH bigger than Union in PNG.

Didn't even know PNG had a national RU team until this thread.

yeah, i didnt really know if union was played in PNG, but i knew league was. i wonder if they will have a team in the RU WC?

i just assumed a lot of those island nations followed union more than league

 

[I_LUV_AFL]

Tonga, Samoa and Fiji are more aligned with union but rugby league still has a very comfortable position in all these nations.

 

[Player]

I assume the main sporting code is a hang over from their colonial days.

Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Cook's, had English or New Zealand administrators.

PNG was Australian.

American Samoa was American.

New Zealand becoming a RU stronghold is largely attributed to English school teachers, I assume many of them found their way to the islands as well.

Samoan, Tongan, etc national RL teams, are they based in Auckland or in the Islands themselves? Outside the RL WC you never hear about them.

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Player
I assume the main sporting code is a hang over from their colonial days.

Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Cook's, had English or New Zealand administrators.

PNG was Australian.

American Samoa was American.

New Zealand becoming a RU stronghold is largely attributed to English school teachers, I assume many of them found their way to the islands as well.

Samoan, Tongan, etc national RL teams, are they based in Auckland or in the Islands themselves? Outside the RL WC you never hear about them.

thanks for the info player... makes sense.

 

[I_LUV_AFL]

The Islands still do tours they just aren't very publicised. Tonga just finished a tour of NZ where they went fairly well except for their game against NZ Maori in which they lost 50-6 but in their defence it was the last game of a fairly long tour and they must have been draines, physically and emotionally.

 

[Richoagain]

Until about 1980 the predominant sport in PNG was australian rules - they competed in the Teal Cup (national under 18s championships) in 1978 and they had a few players play with South Melbourne.

This died through a lack of effort on the AFL's part, but is making a bit of a comeback (they're easily the strongest aussie rules nation outside Australia). About 10,000 people play the game up there, their under 16 national squad playing against the Sydney u16s earlier this year.

A fairly simple concept people forget on this forum is that not everyone is ever going to like the same sport - there is a niche market for pretty much anything anywhere if you market it right. Rugby League could be heaps stronger down here, I played at school in country Vic (as well as AFL) and we got got support from people around, there's definitely a market as they're both great games.

 

[Richoagain]

The other place Aussie Rules is growing well is Samoa, partly due to dissillusionment with Manu Samoa (people can realistically aim to get a place on the national AFL side, but the union team are all based outside Samoa). RL and soccer are aparently starting to benefit from this too, with FIFA particularly pumping heaps of money into the pacific in general.

 

[I_LUV_AFL]

Soccer will take over even more of the world soon. It is just a monster set to swallow everyone. Even here on the Coast people say rugby league is the biggest code by far, they are wrong as soccer has twice as many players.

 

[Sydneyfan]

They're League crazy over in PNG, my folks lived over there for the last few years. There's a few pockets of PNG where Aussie Rules is popular (a hangover of the teachers, missionaries bringing the game over last century followed by Aussie WWII soliders) but RL is by far the number one sport due largely to the intorduction to the game by Aussie ex-pats last century and the stable diet of Queensland TV they get up there now.

Everyone has a team and everyone follows the SOO, my parents said how they'd always be an increase in assaults, alcohol related incidents and murders on SOO nights as rival supporters across the country fought against each other. It's a pretty wild place I can tell you! IMO PNG is home to the most passionate RL supporters in the world.

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by Tutaki
Soccer will take over even more of the world soon. It is just a monster set to swallow everyone. Even here on the Coast people say rugby league is the biggest code by far, they are wrong as soccer has twice as many players.

soccer has always had the most juniors. parents like their kids playing soccer at a young age, and when they get a bit bigger, they move onto sports like rugby and league.

i played soccer till the age of 10, then when i was big enough to tackle and run etc, that when my mum let me play league.

then the school i went to didnt even offer league as a sport, just union and soccer. there are others which offer league and soccer. add them all up and you have more people playing soccer.

but tutaka, over the age of 15, i dont think soccer would be the number one played anymore.