Rugby League Diplomacy
December 11, 2024 9:39 PM Subscribe
From 2028, there will be a Papua New Guinea team in the National Rugby League (NRL). Introduced by Australian soldiers in the 1940s, rugby league is the national sport in the country. It also has diplomatic ramifications, since a clause in the agreement Australia has negotiated ensures PNG will not sign new security agreements with China.
Yes, this broadly has a lot to offer both PNG and Australia as nations, and rugby league as a sport.
I'm curious if folks can point to other examples where teams/clubs from a neighbouring country are invited to compete in another country's much larger professional competition.
Australian sports often include a New Zealand-based team or two.
Many sports that are mostly USian include Canadian teams.
Any others?
posted by jjderooy at 2:38 AM on December 12 [2 favorites]
I'm curious if folks can point to other examples where teams/clubs from a neighbouring country are invited to compete in another country's much larger professional competition.
Australian sports often include a New Zealand-based team or two.
Many sports that are mostly USian include Canadian teams.
Any others?
posted by jjderooy at 2:38 AM on December 12 [2 favorites]
The bigger Welsh teams play in England's (association, i.e. "soccer") football competition. That's more of an acknowledgement that Wales, while it needs to have an independent football association to be represented at an international level, isn't big enough to have an economically viable football league than anything else.
PNG was part of Queensland (the Australian state to its immediate south) until 1975. That makes for a different dynamic. This is a great development. It's clearly all about Australia trying to use soft diplomacy to keep China at bay, but it's something PNG has been looking for for a long time and it will bring them real economic benefits. It's bullshit that the agreement explicitly states that the arrangement is contingent on PNG not allying with China, but it's a weirdly honest kind of bullshit.
I personally think the team should be called "Port Moresby" or the like rather than PNG. Are there any national teams in local leagues? San Marino don't play in la liga, right?
posted by GeckoDundee at 3:17 AM on December 12 [3 favorites]
PNG was part of Queensland (the Australian state to its immediate south) until 1975. That makes for a different dynamic. This is a great development. It's clearly all about Australia trying to use soft diplomacy to keep China at bay, but it's something PNG has been looking for for a long time and it will bring them real economic benefits. It's bullshit that the agreement explicitly states that the arrangement is contingent on PNG not allying with China, but it's a weirdly honest kind of bullshit.
I personally think the team should be called "Port Moresby" or the like rather than PNG. Are there any national teams in local leagues? San Marino don't play in la liga, right?
posted by GeckoDundee at 3:17 AM on December 12 [3 favorites]
It would be inconvenient to have to fly across the Mediterranean for away games if San Marino did play in La Liga, to be sure, but they don't play in Serie A either.
The closest thing I know of to national teams playing in professional sports leagues is the way that teams representing the four provinces of Ireland play in the United Rugby Championship. But I think that a) these are professional teams and b) this is a legacy of rugby union remaining an amateur sport much longer than other football codes.
Other than "Swansea and Cardiff etc. in the English pyramid," NZ rugby, and USA sports leagues with 1-2 Canadian franchises, the only example I can think of where a team plays in another country's domestic professional sports league is Monaco in Ligue 1 and come on I just looked on google maps and their practice field is across the street from the stadium and is in France.
posted by sy at 11:10 AM on December 12 [1 favorite]
The closest thing I know of to national teams playing in professional sports leagues is the way that teams representing the four provinces of Ireland play in the United Rugby Championship. But I think that a) these are professional teams and b) this is a legacy of rugby union remaining an amateur sport much longer than other football codes.
Other than "Swansea and Cardiff etc. in the English pyramid," NZ rugby, and USA sports leagues with 1-2 Canadian franchises, the only example I can think of where a team plays in another country's domestic professional sports league is Monaco in Ligue 1 and come on I just looked on google maps and their practice field is across the street from the stadium and is in France.
posted by sy at 11:10 AM on December 12 [1 favorite]
I do know of professional soccer teams playing friendlies against national teams--here's a friendly between Karlsruhe and Luxembourg when KSC were in the 3. Bundesliga, and if you click around you can find more such "hybrid friendlies."
posted by sy at 11:15 AM on December 12
posted by sy at 11:15 AM on December 12
Oops. I did indeed mean the Italian competition, thanks for the correction, sy.
posted by GeckoDundee at 12:07 PM on December 12
posted by GeckoDundee at 12:07 PM on December 12
> I'm curious if folks can point to other examples where teams/clubs from a neighbouring country are invited to compete in another country's much larger professional competition.
In the NRL, the Warriors play from Aotearoa/New Zealand.
I've wondered if the NRL series in Vegas is to eventually set a team up there. (Or in LA.)
posted by andreaazure at 3:02 PM on December 12
In the NRL, the Warriors play from Aotearoa/New Zealand.
I've wondered if the NRL series in Vegas is to eventually set a team up there. (Or in LA.)
posted by andreaazure at 3:02 PM on December 12
Sorry to threadsit but this is exactly my kind of sports nerdery and I just remembered that there's a Mexico City team in the NBA G League. And I think the Toronto Wolfpack was a Super League rugby league team for a few years, but that was killed off by the pandemic. I suspect that a Las Vegas NRL team would have a hard go but I would be happy to be wrong.
posted by sy at 4:05 PM on December 12
posted by sy at 4:05 PM on December 12
I'm curious if folks can point to other examples where teams/clubs from a neighbouring country are invited to compete in another country's much larger professional competition.
The Russian hockey league from after the Soviet Union broke up rebranded as the Kontinental Hockey League and invited Latvian, Kazakhstani, and Belarussian teams. In the years since they've cycled through a whole bunch of teams from other countries like Finland and Czechia, and now they've got a Chinese team (plus the ones from Kazakhstan and Belarus that are still there).
Ice hockey sort of lends itself to that, I guess because it's popular enough to support 1-2 strong teams in big enough cities but not popular enough to have a decent team in every town like with soccer. So there's also the ICEHL, which is mostly the Austrian league, but with the biggest teams from Hungary and Slovenia plus a handful of teams from northern Italy. You've also got the Alps Hockey League that's the Italian league, but with smaller Austrian and Slovenian teams mixed in, plus 1 Croatian team.
posted by Copronymus at 7:04 PM on December 12
The Russian hockey league from after the Soviet Union broke up rebranded as the Kontinental Hockey League and invited Latvian, Kazakhstani, and Belarussian teams. In the years since they've cycled through a whole bunch of teams from other countries like Finland and Czechia, and now they've got a Chinese team (plus the ones from Kazakhstan and Belarus that are still there).
Ice hockey sort of lends itself to that, I guess because it's popular enough to support 1-2 strong teams in big enough cities but not popular enough to have a decent team in every town like with soccer. So there's also the ICEHL, which is mostly the Austrian league, but with the biggest teams from Hungary and Slovenia plus a handful of teams from northern Italy. You've also got the Alps Hockey League that's the Italian league, but with smaller Austrian and Slovenian teams mixed in, plus 1 Croatian team.
posted by Copronymus at 7:04 PM on December 12
To add to the New Zealand example, the Auckland Breakers play in the Australian basketball league, and the Wellington Phoenix and Auckland Knights Kingz FC* play in the Australian soccer league.
And now I remember, the New Zealand national cricket team played in the Australian state level one-day competition briefly.
In soccer, Futbol Club Andorra plays in the Spanish league, and Victor San Marino in the Italian league. Note that, like AS Monaco, these are club sides, not the national teams of those countries.
Rapid Vienna won the German league in 1941, as following anschluss Austrian teams entered the German league.
*Am I a Phoenix fan mocking the failure of previous Auckland franchises? Perhaps.
posted by Pink Frost at 7:11 PM on December 12 [1 favorite]
And now I remember, the New Zealand national cricket team played in the Australian state level one-day competition briefly.
In soccer, Futbol Club Andorra plays in the Spanish league, and Victor San Marino in the Italian league. Note that, like AS Monaco, these are club sides, not the national teams of those countries.
Rapid Vienna won the German league in 1941, as following anschluss Austrian teams entered the German league.
*Am I a Phoenix fan mocking the failure of previous Auckland franchises? Perhaps.
posted by Pink Frost at 7:11 PM on December 12 [1 favorite]
Thanks so much for this! My daughter's late grandfather was one of those soldiers who took rugby league to PNG, and as far as I can find is the only person to have been knighted for services to rugby league after being the president of PNGRL for 25 years. This is really quite contentious in the football world, as no UK rugby league people have had the same honour, while plenty of union people have - clearly highlighting the class differences between the two codes and parity of esteem issues for sports coded as working class. Jim would be absolutely stoked by this, I'm so sorry he's not still here to see it.
posted by goo at 8:35 AM on December 13 [1 favorite]
posted by goo at 8:35 AM on December 13 [1 favorite]
« Older Suddenly, a character says out of nowhere: “What... | Fossilised faeces hold clues to how dinosaurs... Newer »
(Seriously I reckon this is a good thing and the Australian public (me included) should be more aware of PNG given both proximity and recent history.)
posted by the duck by the oboe at 2:03 AM on December 12 [2 favorites]