2008 Port Moresby Rugby League Grand Final

Caption 1: An Inter-Territory game in Port Moresby 1970

Caption 2: The Port Moresby Rugby League Ground in 1969

Papua New Guinea’s oldest Rugby League competition – SP Port Moresby Rugby League – winds down with the Grand Final on Sunday, October 05th, 2008 between ADBL Broadband Paga Panthers and TSCL Magani.

It will be the culmination another season of top-class rugby league and will be even more special in that these two clubs are the pioneers of Port Moresby Rugby League,

The game of Rugby League was first played in Papua New Guinea in 1949 by Australian soldiers.

However, it wasn't until the late 1960's when the game was regularly played by locals.

In the 1950's, there were regular matches between Australian soldiers in New Guinea and fellow Australian soldiers in Papua New Guinea.

There were also many other regional events taking place which often attracted large crowds, mainly watched by other soldiers and natives from local villages.

Rugby League grew very quickly indeed, and although the game was only a popular spectator sport, mainly played by Australians and New Zealanders, it was clear that Rugby League was their national sport by the 1960's.