Papua New Guinea News

The Papua New Guinea national Rugby League team are known as the Kumuls, which means ‘Birds of Paradise’ in the native Tok Pisin language and over the years they have become a favourite for many fans due to the 100% commitment their players always give and for the large and loud fans that attend their matches.

There is always a lot of pressure on the Kumuls whenever they take to the field as PNG is the only country in the world where the sport is the national sport but the player soften use that to their advantage and always show pride in the shirt.

With so much support back home, there is always lots of news to be read locally but it can be tougher for fans around the globe to keep up to date with all the latest PNG Kumuls news headlines or at least that used to be the case.

Here at 13v13, we bring you all of the latest Papua New Guinea Rugby League news headlines form around the world and all that you need to do is click on any of the PNG news headlines that are of interest to you and you will be taken to the full story.

PNG Breaking News

If you are looking for Papua New Guinea breaking news stories for their representative Rugby League side, you are in the right place as we bring you all the breaking news stories for the Kumuls.

Papua New Guinea Latest News Today

If a story has broken today regarding the PNG test side, we will bring it to you as we constantly update this page with all of the PNG latest news today.

Stadium

Papua New Guinea are one of only a few countries to have a national Rugby League stadium and although it has a long history going back to 1975 as the Lloyd Robson Oval, the renamed Papua New Guinea National Football Stadium was completely rebuilt in 2015.

Nowadays, the modern 14,800 capacity stadium in the PNG capital city of Port Moresby is home to the PNG national side as well as the PNG Hunters, the leading club side in the country that play in the Australian system.

Confederation

PNG are part of the Asia-Pacific Rugby League Confederation (the APRLC), which covers the majority of nations in the southern-hemisphere.

About

Rugby League has a long history in the country, going back to the 1940’s and as mentioned above it is the national sport of Papua New Guinea.

Big NRL matches are watched around the country whilst home Kumuls matches see much of the country come to a standstill.

History

Rugby League was first introduced to Papua New Guinea by soldiers based there during and after the second World War.

It took until the 1974 season for their national team to become part of the International Federation and for them to play their first ever ‘official’ match.

That match took place in Ports Moresby against a travelling England side and the hosts would put in a strong performance despite a 12 points to 40 loss.

PNG first ever appearance on the global stage came in the 1985-88 Rugby League World Cup competition, and they would impress from the off as they would pick up a huge shock win against New Zealand in 1986 before suffering a heavy loss to Australia in front of sell-out crowds in Port Moresby.

Away from home, they would suffer losses to France and Great Britain before seeing huge losses away to both Australia and New Zealand.

In 1991, PNG would meet Great Britain in a test series, and they would manage to draw the series 1 game apiece.

They head other to Britain themselves later that year where they would struggle including a record 68-0 loss against Wales in front of 11,422 fans in Swansea.

PNG would continue to host the likes of the GB Lion and Australia over the next few years, but they would struggle to pick up wins but under the stewardship off Bob Bennett and with the emergence of Adrian Lam, PNG would go onto have a successful 2000 World Cup after struggling in 1995.

In 2008, PNG were placed in a group featuring England, Australia and New Zealand, so to no one’s surprise, they lost each match.

That seemed to be a catalyst for several issues in PNG with a lot of different groups wanting control of the governing body and that saw struggle son the field for the Kumuls but by the mid 2010’s things were back on track for PNG, and they started to enjoy success in the Pacific Test matches.

In 2016, the countries test side got a huge boost when the Papua New Guinea Hunters (PNG Hunters) side were accepted into the Queensland Cup competition in Australia.

That allowed for a full-time professional side to base themselves out of the National Stadium in Port Moresby, with the aim to not only improve the quality of the players heading into the professional game but in turn to improve the quality of the national side.

Since then, the club have gone on to produce the backbone of the PNG national side and with national television coverage, they have strengthened the sport in the country.

At the 2017 RLWC, PNG co-hosted the tournament and won all their group matches which were played in Port Moresby at the National Stadium before losing to England in the quarterfinals at AAMI Park in Melbourne.

In 2019, PNG participated in the Oceania Cup, where they lost to Toa Samoa and Fiji Bati before pulling off one of the biggest shocks in international Rugby League history when they hosted a touring Great Britain Lions side whom they bested 28-10 in Port Moresby.

In preparation for the 2021 RLWC, held in 2022, PNG faced Fiji Bati in the Pacific Test where they ran out 24-14 winners.

PNG News Headlines

Here at 13v13, we bring you all the up to the minute Papua New Guinea Kumuls news headlines from sources all around the globe.

We do all the searching to save you the time and effort needed to find the latest PNG news.

PNG Kumuls News Update

As a story breaks, you can be sure that it will constantly update and when a PNG new story does update, we will bring it to you right here on this page.