The World Cup co-hosts where rugby league is a national obsession

ByMatt Newsum

BBC Sport Rugby League journalist

"Back home when we play in front of our own fans, just to see the fans, the crowd get behind us, singing the national anthem... it makes me cry every time."

Edwin Ipape gets emotional when travelling with his Papua New Guinea team-mates to the national stadium.

Children, so mad about rugby league that they will fashion a ball out of anything they can find, run alongside the team bus, eager to catch a glimpse of their heroes. Players are mobbed wherever they go.

The buzz around rugby league in Papua New Guinea can sometimes be daunting for visiting teams. In the past, passion has boiled over to the point where police have fired tear gas into the crowds.

But the national game – and in particular its men's national team, the Kumuls – is also a powerful symbol of unity in a land that can be torn apart by tribal fighting and where more than 800 different languages and dialects are spoken.

When the PNG fans are at their best and noisiest, a 15,000 crowd can sound like twice that number and is so loud that the players on the field cannot hear each other.

They will be at full volume this month when the island's capital Port Moresby is the venue for four Rugby League World Cup matches, as PNG co-hosts the tournament with Australia and New Zealand.

"People in Papua New Guinea probably don't know who the prime minister is, but they know all the NRL [National Rugby League] players," joked Elsie Albert, a prop who plays for PNG's women's side – the Orchids – and for Parramatta Eels in Australia's NRL Women's Premiership.

So, how has an island perched off Australia's northern tip become so obsessed with the sport?

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The seeds were sown by Australian miners in the 1930s, who introduced the game, one with deep roots in New South Wales and Queensland, to the local population.

It took hold as the devotion spread. The ferocious physicality of rugby league sat easily with the Papuans, who had long fought battles without a ball on their soil.

These days, the people of PNG are among the most knowledgeable and passionate. Only the Cook Islands can lay similar claims to an all-out obsession with the game in terms of national importance.

Sometimes that fervour spills over, with violence souring matches in their domestic league,, external something the authorities are keen to stamp out. In the past, tear gas was needed to quell over-excited crowds, such as when Great Britain came to tour in 1992.

Generally though, rugby league is more of a peacekeeper. Villages will settle around a television set to watch rugby league, whether it is the NRL or Super League.

Participation levels are high. There are thousands of would-be Edwin Ipapes across the island, running about on bits of grass, on gravel, on the scrawniest patch of clear land somewhere, anywhere they can get the ball out and play.

The games can be rough, bordering on brutal. They are the perfect breeding ground for talent. But kit can be basic.

"If you're lucky enough, you play with a rugby league ball," Ipape recalled of his childhood, growing up in Mount Hagen, in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

"Otherwise, you play with containers, you put stuff in it, fill it up and then make it like a ball and whatever... whatever we can get our hands on, we may pretend that it was our rugby ball.

"I remember saving up my lunch money to buy myself one of those American footballs and using it as a rugby ball so we could play."

The Highlands of Papua New Guinea were a testing place to grow up - there is a long history of brutal tribal rivalries. Today, violence in those parts of the country has escalated - as access to increasingly sophisticated weaponry has brought deadly consequences.

Ipape, though, only ever had eyes for rugby league. Larsen Marape and Menzie Yere were the heroes of his youth: the faces on the posters adorning his walls in Mount Hagen.

The sport not only brings unity to the country - for those who make it to the top, it also offers a chance to cross the globe.

Ipape, 27, has played for his country, and travelled worldwide. The hooker now plays in Super League for Leigh Leopards.

The 'Birds of Paradise' - as Kumuls translates - have been life-transforming.

"Rugby league has given me pretty much everything," he said. "It's instilled discipline and it's taught me a lot of lessons about life.

"I've welled up with tears a few times on our way to the stadium in Papua New Guinea, just looking at the young kids running alongside the bus.

"I'm so blessed and privileged to be in the position to represent my country. It's a dream I'm living right now."

For any young hopeful looking to become the next Ipape, the first goal is to play for a village, then a province. Then it is the PNG Hunters, who play in Australia's Queensland Cup.

That can be the ticket to the big leagues, whether that be the NRL - as it was for former Melbourne Storm centre Justin Olam - or Super League, as it has been for Ipape.

From 2028 onwards, there will be an NRL team based on the island, the PNG Chiefs.

While much of their initial recruitment has been high-profile, such as Samoa half-back Jarome Luai, compatriot Brian To'o, and New Zealand international Joey Manu, Papuan players have also been sought to bolster the ranks.

Visiting teams can sometimes find the excitement around rugby league in Papua New Guinea unsettling. Any familiar face from the sport draws attention - but the fans only want to show affection and respect.

"We went to a little market and people were recognising us," Leigh Leopards' Papuan hooker Liam Horne told BBC Sport. "We actually needed a lift to go to one of these shopping centres, so we just hitchhiked.

"We got this random guy to pick us up and he couldn't believe it. He had two Kumuls in his back seat and he was freaking out.

"The people over there, they love it. They're welcoming."

Some of the Kumuls of today are second-generation Papuans born and raised in Australia, such as Leigh back-rower Jacob Alick-Weincke.

Being a PNG international is a chance to connect with the culture, understand more about their heritage, upbringing, and the people.

"People there just want to be around you in your presence," Alick-Weincke added.

"We always go to the shops or go to local villages. We went to one of the markets last time we were over there. That was a really cool experience. Just people everywhere."

The rise of the women's team - chronicled in the 2019 documentary Power Meri,, external which followed the Orchids to their debut World Cup in 2017 - has been helped by Elsie Albert's star power.

Albert is PNG's first female superstar - but that meant challenging some old values back home.

"Women were supposed to stay at home and do household chores, so when this great game came over [for women], it was seen as a threat to the culture," Albert said in 2023 as part of an NRL storytelling campaign.

"The pioneering girls had men throwing bottles at them into the stadium, but in 2019 everything changed for us when we played England."

In that two-Test series, England won the first match 24-10 in Goroka. But the second, in Port Moresby, brought a memorable - and defining - 20-16 victory for the hosts.

"You could feel the atmosphere," Albert recalled. "The crowd was there and to get a win in front of everyone, especially the men... for them to see that women could do what men can do, was a great feeling.

"You could feel it was going to change. Rugby league is a great way for us to to advocate for change."

Even well-known rugby league family names of the past are growing new branches, with Fleur Ginn Wagambie following in the footsteps of elders John and Richard when she made her PNG debut in 2025 - and now hopes to make a World Cup debut.

"I've always wanted to represent the Orchids and I was really lucky last year to make my debut in the Pacific Cup," Wagambie, a Parramatta team-mate of Albert, told ABC Pacific.

"Being lucky enough to play in a World Cup, in Port Moresby, in front of my family is really exciting."

Papua New Guinea's rugby league influence can be felt at Championship club London Broncos.

Jason Demetriou, the Kumuls head coach, is in charge at Plough Lane, and his influence persuaded a host of Papuan players to come over.

Championship player of the year Gairo Voro, full-back Morea Morea, prop Epil Kapinias, centres Alex Max and Robert Mathias, hooker Finley Glare and back-rower Jeremiah Simbiken were all recruited by the Super League aspirant Broncos.

Together, they steered the club to a treble - the Championship League Leaders' Shield, the 1895 Cup and the divisional Grand Final title.

Their progress alerted the PNG Chiefs, who have signed Voro, Glare and Morea for the 2028 season onwards.

"There's going to be eyeballs on every player in the World Cup," Demetriou added.

"We're playing against Lebanon, which will be stacked full of NRL players, playing against England that are full of Super League and NRL players, and Samoa, which is one of the top international sides in the world at the moment.

"We know what's in front of us, but on the flip side of that, they're going to play against PNG as well. We have to make sure that when they go out on the field, they understand that there's some elite level players out there.

"If we want opportunities, we want to be respected, then we need to start with beating teams on the world stage."

Santos National Football Stadium - where the co-hosts will play the four Rugby League World Cup matches they are staging - has a capacity of just under 15,000. It will seem a lot more than that on Saturday, though, when the Orchids face France and the Kumuls take on Lebanon. And that will be thanks to the atmosphere.

"Loud" was how Horne put it. "It sounds like 30,000." Kumuls stalwart Lachlan Lam - forced to miss this World Cup because he needs wrist surgery - likened the atmosphere to "a proper scream".

Team-mate Alick-Wiencke said: "I've not experienced anything like it. You can't hear yourself talking to other team-mates and things like that.

"And, just the heat - you can't believe the whole stadium is packed out. It's like 40C and they're up there singing and dancing and carrying on. So the atmosphere is unbelievable."

Whatever happens at this World Cup, rugby league shows no signs of losing its appeal in Papua New Guinea. And the passion of those supporters might yet give Ipape reason to shed a few more tears.

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