Look to West Indies, not West Australia
The NRL’s obsession with a West Australian team as an expansion side is illogical. The WA team failed before, and will likely fail again.
Instead, the NRL should be investing in a Pacific Islands team, based on the very successful West Indies cricket model.
The West Indies cricket team is a unique sporting entity because it represents a collection of sovereign nations and territories rather than a single country. West Indies both a term to describe a region with similar cultures and histories as well as a united cricket team.
There isn’t a country called the West Indies, it’s a group of islands in the Caribbean. Of these, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Dominica, Montserrat, Saint Vincent, Grenada and Saint Kitts and Nevis have produced test cricket players.
Realising that no single Caribbean nation had a sufficient population, or infrastructure, to maintain a stand-alone cricket team, the various island nations pooled their collective talent so they could compete internationally.
Bringing together a shared Caribbean identity (with not dissimilar histories as British colonies, who introduced cricket), they agreed to join forces. Almost a century ago (1928) the first combined West Indies team played a Test match against England at Lord’s.
The modern West Indies cricket team, which reigned supreme in the 1970s and 1980s, now represents a confederation of 15 countries and territories, making it the most unique team in international sport. They operate under a combined board, yet each country still maintains local competitions and leagues, and there’s intense rivalry over selection and representation.
Sure, West Indies cricket has declined over the last decade, yet as the current Australian tour shows, they remain a captivating team and one we want to see rise again to be more competitive.
To its credit, the NRL will bring PNG, the only country where Rugby league is the national sport, into the competition soon. The next logical expansion isn’t Perth, it’s a Pacific Islands or Polynesian team based on the West Indies model.
The West Indies during their 1980s glory days. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)
Currently, just over half of all NRL players (about 52%) are of Pasifika heritage – that is, from Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Niue, and Vanuatu. The numbers have been rising steadily; in 2011, about 30% of NRL players had Pasifika backgrounds.
As with general ignorance about the nations comprising the West Indies (geographically, Cuba is in the West Indies, yet we don’t associate Cuba with cricket), I am not across the best use of the terms Polynesian, Pacific Islands and Pasifika. I understand they are related but not interchangeable. I apologise if I have this wrong or have misused terminology.
My point is that a team representing Tonga, Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, Tuvalu, Niue, Cook Islands and other Pacific Island nations is the logical expansion for the NRL.
These island nations are now, and will continue to, produce the players that will grow the game, both within the NRL competition, and with international tests and tournaments.
The popularity of rugby league among Pacific islands diaspora is evident by the many players currently playing (and following) the sport in Australia and New Zealand. And let’s be blunt here, without them, the NRL would be a second-rate competition.
Tonga and Samoa are ranked four and five in world rankings, with Fiji at seven and Cook Islands making into the top Ten. It probably won’t be long before Tonga wins the World Cup.
As the NRL seems obsessed with competing for viewers and fans with the AFL and Rugby Union, it’s also logical to invest in a Pacific team.
Both league and union have passionate followings in the Islands, although Union remains more dominant code, and has cultural, religious, and historical associations not easily shifted.
Instead of building the game where there’s an existing player and supporter base, the NRL is dumping the Bears in West Australia. No doubt, the new franchise will poach Pacific Island players as they have no juniors or ‘breeding ground’.
Sunia Turuva celebrates with Jarome Luai. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
The NRL with soon have two teams – Melbourne and Perth – almost completely reliant on signing established players.
Perth, a city of over two million, already hosts Perth Glory FC in the A-League and a Women’s Team in the A-League Women. West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers compete in the AFL and AFLW.
The Western Warriors play in domestic cricket tournaments, the Western Fury in the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL). Perth Scorchers are their Big Bash League (BBL) and Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) sides.
In netball, they have West Coast Fever, the Western Force are a well-supported Super Rugby Pacific side. In Basketball, Perth Wildcats play in the NBL, Perth Lynx in WNBL.
It’s hard to fathom the reasoning here, Perth does not have a large enough population base to support another major sporting team.
Perth presents similar logistic problems to bringing in a combined Islander team. The time difference between Perth and Auckland is 4-5 hours, making a night fixture in WA finishing after midnight in NZ.
Flights from Perth to Port Moresby and Auckland take over 6 hours (if flights are on time!), longer than Sydney to most Pacific Islands.
The future isn’t in the West, and it’s bizarre the NRL have ignored the NRL’s largest growth region to transplant yet another team there.
