Pocock warns NRL’s $600m PNG push risks undermining rugby in Fiji

Former Wallabies captain turned independent senator David Pocock has warned that the Australian Government’s $600 million funding package to establish an NRL team in Papua New Guinea risks undermining rugby in Fiji.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade official told a senate estimates committee in October that of the $600 million pledged by the federal government, potentially $175 million could be spent on rugby league development across Fiji, Samoa and Tonga – all countries with rich rugby union traditions but which have lacked financial resources compared with richer rugby-playing nations.

It was anticipated $250 million would be allocated to the PNG Chiefs, who will enter the NRL competition in 2028, with the remaining $350 million to be spent on “pathway development programs” for rugby league.

Out of that figure, $175 million is expected to be spent in Papua New Guinea, with the other $175 million to be shared between Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

“For a country like Papua New Guinea, investing in rugby league makes a lot of sense,” Pocock told this masthead. “But for Pacific Island nations, and particularly Fiji – who have a gold medal in [men’s] rugby sevens [in 2016 and 2020] – this seems designed to essentially set up a talent pathway for league and just to ship players to Australia, and I strongly disagree with that.

“Where a country has a really strong history with rugby union, who do incredibly well in sevens, are super competitive with the 15s game, both in men’s and women’s – and a country like Australia, seemingly at the behest of the NRL, would do this.

“This doesn’t seem like a request from countries like Fiji. This is very much Australia saying, ‘Oh, we’re going to come and do this’.”

The Fijian Drua, who are playing their fourth season in Super Rugby and face the Waratahs in Sydney on Friday night, have been given financial support from the Australian government but on a much smaller scale, with $1.2 million of annual funding shared across their men’s and women’s programs.

Two years ago, DFAT also announced a four-year, $14.2 million investment to support high-performance rugby union across the Pacific region.

Its PacificAus Sports program also provided $18.1 million for elite sports including rugby union in the past year and its Team Up program delivered $9.45 million for grassroots sports development including in rugby.

Last Thursday, Liberal senator Jessica Collins told a senate estimates hearing the NRL were going into high schools in Fiji to try to “flip rugby union schools to rugby league,” and warned that rugby union players from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji could potentially be poached for the 13-man code.

In response, the head of DFAT’S office of the Pacific, Elizabeth Peak, stated that the government’s funding would not just benefit rugby league.

“I had heard from a number of leaders in the four countries [PNG, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga] ... they anticipate that the investments that go into rugby league will also benefit other sports,” Peak said.

“For example, if ovals are upgraded, there are many sports that will have the opportunity to utilise those ovals. If there are gyms that are invested in, that won’t just be for rugby league.”

The $600m in funding for the PNG Chiefs came about as part of the Australian government’s strategy to counter China’s influence in the Pacific.

On Monday, the Fiji Rugby Union announced it had signed an MOU with the China Rugby Association that will see talented junior players sent to study at Chinese Universities as part of an ongoing partnership.

Fiji men’s head coach and former Australian Football League star Mick Byrne has lived in the country for the last four years, previously leading the Drua, and believes rugby will continue to thrive despite the NRL’s funding push at grassroots level.

“The Dean’s Trophy [Fiji secondary schools rugby competition] gets bigger crowds than either the Drua or the national team, it’s [rugby] sort of ingrained,” Byrne said. “I don’t want to be disrespectful to rugby league, but they’ll never push rugby aside.

“Rugby league is going to grow [in Fiji], but they still have to win the hearts and minds of the people, and I think rugby is always going to have that.”

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