The Chiefs are coming to the National Rugby League competition in 2028, PNG Prime Minister James Marape says.
The team’s name was announced at the Australia-PNG PM’s XVIII match in Port Moresby on Sunday, won 28-10 by the visitors.
“We are a nation of 1000 tribes,” Marape said.
“Before there was a modern state called Papua New Guinea in 1975, our people lived for thousands of years under tribal structures led by chiefs — men and women — who governed, protected, and held our communities together.”
The PNG prime minister said the name had particular appeal for them as the term can apply equally to men or women.
He noted that in regions like Milne Bay, Bougainville, New Ireland, and East New Britain, women were traditionally chiefs, or clan heads, while in other areas, the chiefs were male.
“The name depicts our authentic cultural history,” he said.
The only other name to be considered, he said, were the Pythons.
NUMBERS GAME FOR CHIEFS
PNG is the only country where rugby league is the national sport.
The team are due to enter the NRL in 2028, based in Port Moresby and will also have a team in the NRL Women’s competition.
PNG already has the Hunters, who have playing in the Queensland RL’s Hostplus Cup competition since 2014 and won it in 2017.
On his visit to PNG last month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese predicted the team “is going to be running on the field and get on board … to do very well, very quickly”.
“They will have the biggest junior rugby league academy right throughout PNG that other teams are going to be very jealous of.
“They are aiming for one million members. My team thinks it’s going pretty well, we’ve got 30,000 members.”
Marape said the name is a fitting emblem as his country celebrates 50 years of Independence this year.
A logo and team colours have yet to be confirmed.
The Chiefs name already operates in Australasian professional sports; the Waikato Chiefs are a Super Rugby Pacific team based out of Hamilton on New Zealand’s North Island.
OUR EARLIER STORY: PNG to get a team in the NRL in 2028
