Rugby League World Cup - November 2013

Back in early 2013, we heard the great news that the Rugby League World Cup was coming to our local stadium. Then we found that the match was to be New Zealand vs Papua New Guinea and I jumped at the opportunity to take up the flag of my cousin's birthplace and wave it as if it were my own.

Headingley stadium is home to (amongst other teams) Leeds Rhinos and their fans were out in force on the Friday in early November when we went to watch the game. I'm not sure if it was the British "fair play" attitude of supporting the underdog, or the fact that PNG player Paul Aiton had just signed for the Rhinos that meant that the crowds were firmly behind the Kumuls that evening.

Before the game.

As we walked to the ground I proudly wore my flag on my shoulders, sweeping up the street with a flag (temporarily) tattooed on my cheek. In the stadium I saw song sheets being distributed and a few PNG scarves but it wasn't until the game was underway did the extend of the support become apparent. The chant going round the ground was "Oh Papua New Guinea" to the tune of the bass line from "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes. At times it filled the stadium and there would have been no doubt in the PNG players' minds that we were behind them all the way.

Paul Aiton with the ball from the YEP match report.

Photo: Steve Riding

Despite the home crowd's support, PNG's first half was pretty poor against the might of the All Blacks, and by half time the score was a painful 40-0. When they returned to cheers for the second half however, the Papua New Guineans were determined not to lie down and fought hard to achieve 10 points that received spine-tingling roars from the fans. The game ended 56-10 but that second half was well worth the wait!

Three more PNG fans here!

Visit the Rugby League World Cup website to read the match report.

Glasgow 2014 Rugby Sevens - The Experience

Despite the threat of rain, when my husband Richard and I arrived in Glasgow on Saturday morning for the Rugby Sevens it was gloriously sunny. Immediately after getting off the train we joined a queue for the Subway which looked worryingly long, though it moved at a fairly swift pace. Everyone on their way to Ibrox at this point was running late. The tournament started at 10.32 with New Zealand vs Canada and many people missed the legendary Haka that kicked off the event. The journey wasn't too bad, and I used the time to apply my Papua New Guinea attire - a flag transfer to my face and a large flag about my shoulders.

By the time we arrived there had already been two matches and we settled in to watch Kenya vs the Cook Islands. It was a very one-sided game that ended 28 - 0 but my excitement came from spying three PNG fans sat a few seats in front of me. I ran down and asked them for a quick photo and happily they agreed.

Next up was our beloved Papua New Guinea (or Pukpuks) playing a strong Samoan team. A gentleman behind us commented that this was the first evenly matched game so far that morning and although they didn't win, PNG notched up a creditable 14 against Samoa's 33. Billy Torea and Hensley Peter scored tries, one in each half and Emmanuel Guise converted both.

Image: BBC. Watch the clip (UK Only)

Throughout the day the queue for the bar at Ibrox was much shorter than the one for the food stand, so by the time the second PNG match came round I was a little tipsy. The game came after England and Scotland played their only morning matches (against Sri Lanka and New Zealand), and some people had started to drift off home. Determined to boost the atmosphere in our bit of the stand I shook out my flags and even tried to start a chant of "Oh, Papua New Guinea" that I'd picked up at the Rugby League World Cup. Only a few people joined in, but I think I made some people smile with my antics. I even had a couple of requests from people wanting my photo, which made it all worthwhile!

I'd like to think that it was my support that won PNG this game, but in truth they were a better team than Malaysia, who had also been trounced by Wales earlier that day. I was glad that the crowd didn't turn against the Pukpuks as they had two players sin-binned which could have made them out to be the "baddies" of the game. Fortunately they won the game 36 - 7 with 31 of those points coming in the second half, making for an exciting seven minutes for me!

We left after their win, and headed on foot back towards Glasgow feeling like we'd had a good dose of good rugby. When we applied for our Sevens tickets in 2013 we weren't sure which teams were participating, never mind which sessions they were to play in. To have a double helping of PNG games on our Sevens ticket was very tasty indeed!

Postscript: On the walk back a family of PNG fans said hello and asked if I'd been the person singing in the stadium. I couldn't deny it!