1974 Papua vs New Guinea Match Ends in Riots

The Papua Team was made up of players that lived in the Papua region from Gulf , POM to Altoau .
The New Guinea Team was made up of players that resided in Highlands , NGI , Coastal players.

The annual Papua vs New Guinea match in 1974 ends with Port Moresby locked down for a whole week . The Riot Squad was called in and declared The State of Emergency of Port Moresby due to the Riots .

This would be the last Annual Papua vs New Guinea match to be played ever due to the Rioting . The New Guinea team had some legends of our game - John Wagambie , Weekiang Tse , Steve Malum . Baita Wari, Steve Tsang , Skerry Palanga .

PNG Kumuls Captain John Wagambie speaks about this game - "Myself and fellow team mate Weekiang Tse could not return to Bougainville for our jobs at Paguna mine on the BCL jet . The landowners of Aropa Airport also blockaded the tarmac. The were demanding compo for the airport land. John says eventually we got on Air Niugini and went to Buka then Aropa. He said "Good fun these days".

John recalls "The Standard of game was high and brutal. " No unecessary stops and starts due to dropped balls. The Expat players made the teams look international.
The New Guinea Seconds we won and New Guinea Firsts lost by 2 points . That triggered the Riot he says." 
These games some would say was PNG's version of The State of Origin they were played with great pride and skills but sometimes the supporters took it way too seriously .

The banning of this match made way for The Zones Championships later on . But this annual Papua vs New Guinea will always be part of our proud PNG rugby league tradition .

By Chris Thompson 

---