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| Have you got a ticket yet? |
Both players will forego significant sums of money to play for the minnow rugby league nation of Tonga. Their decisions have the ability to influence future players to make decisions about their representative careers not just solely based on money.
Many will scoff at the influence now, citing both players’ dissatisfactions
with their national team set-ups as the reason for their preference to play for
Tonga, but their transition has awoken interest in a tournament that has traditionally
only ever been perceived as a battle between Australia, New Zealand and
England.
At the 2008 World Cup – also played in Australia – Jarryd Hayne
played for Fiji at a time when the game had not made significant inroads with
the island nation. You could argue that Hayne’s representation with Fiji during
that tournament helped propel interest in the smaller nations and highlight the
opportunities of growing the game throughout the pacific.
Over the last 10-15 years, the amount of Polynesian players
in rugby league has increased dramatically. This has helped not only New
Zealand in becoming stronger through players who often move to the country at
young age, but has seen a sharp development in the likes of Tonga, Samoa, and
Fiji.
While the battles between Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Papua New
Guinea during the NRL midseason seemed more of a gimmick when first introduced,
their capacity to attract genuine interest from a broader variety of rugby
league fan is beginning to take hold.
It is likely that in a few years, these matches will find an
equal place amongst the historical state of origin matches, filling in the gaps of stand-alone weekends. The opportunity to incorporate Northern Hemisphere
teams in a full-scale midyear break in domestic rugby league competitions is
something that could be explored.
The inclusion of the PNG Hunters in the Queensland Cup has
helped boost the depth and overall strength of Papua New Guinea and can only be
seen to positively improve the country’s footprint in international rugby
league.
It is also with great optimism that the introduction of the
Toronto Wolfpack into the Northern Hemisphere game - via the third tier of the Rugby
Football League in England - that hope of a revival of the sport can take hold
in that part of the world.
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| One of the success stories from the 2013 Rugby League World Cup - The U.S.A Tomahawk. |
The administration involved in making their existence possible
should be applauded for their bold risk to accept a cross-continent
possibility. If the Wolfpack and perhaps another team in Canada or America can
be introduced to the Rugby Football League and attract a new wave of interest
to the game both in North America and Europe, international rugby league is
only going to benefit.
Furthermore, the Rugby League International Federation has
made one of the best and first long-term, forward-thinking decisions about the
future of the game seen in quite some time.
In 2025, the Rugby League World Cup
will be played in North America.
What this does, is give the international game and the
entire sport of rugby league something to work towards. If improvements can be
made in the payments of players to all nations in the tournament, not just the
big three of Australia, England and New Zealand, than the potential to grow the
game in both domestic and international competitions is wide open.
North America is perhaps rugby league’s most underutilised
source of talent identification, player development and game exposure, given
the size of the population and love of sport in both the U.S.A and Canada.
It will require a commitment from all forms of administration
in the game, but with the RLIF now having full-time employees and the game
beginning to make even the smallest footprint in the area, it gives hope of
strong, long-term growth.
Detractors can shoot it down all they like, but unless
people make decisions like Fifita and Tamaulolo to do something out of the norm
and against the tide of money, the game will continue to exist in its insular
form.
Would Semi Radradra have ever have turned out for Australia
if there was the same $20,000 on the table to play for Fiji?
With so many NRL players turning out for some of the smaller
nations at the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, interest in the tournament will
perhaps be at its highest ever.
The 2013 tournament in the United Kingdom saw huge interest
from the English fans in the matches of the smaller nations. Played at some of
the old-style packed-in grounds to what appeared like full-houses and on the
back of Andrew Voss’ talented commentary, these matches were exciting and
appealing to many fans back here in Australia.
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| One of the 2013 matches in England between Samoa and Fiji. |
With matches being played right across Australia, New Zealand and in PNG, the 2017 tournament has the potential to garner the same, if not more interest than the 2013 edition.
To Fifita, Tamaulolo, Hayne, Moses, Papalii, Segeyaro, Vaughan,
Farah, Tedesco and anyone else turning out for a minnow nation, thank you.
For you are contributing to the long-term growth of rugby
league.
People might not see it on the surface, but these decisions are
helping a wider development of the greatest game of all.