{"id":210578,"date":"2025-10-13T16:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T16:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/210578\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T16:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T16:16:08","slug":"name-of-new-papua-new-guinea-nrl-franchise-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/210578\/","title":{"rendered":"Name of new Papua New Guinea NRL franchise revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Papua New Guinea\u2019s new NRL franchise will be called the \u2018PNG Chiefs\u2019, Prime Minister James Marape confirmed over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, and after much speculation, it was confirmed that PNG would enter a team into the NRL<\/a> from the start of the 2028 campaign.<\/p>\n

Among the most important steps after that confirmation was received was to lock in a name for the team, with that decision made jointly by the governments of PNG<\/a> and Australia along with the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC).<\/p>\n

A public naming competition had already also been held, with over 20,000 submissions received.<\/p>\n

\u2018PNG Chiefs\u2019 was the eventual winner, with the name carrying plenty of historical significance.<\/p>\n

Name of new Papua New Guinea NRL franchise revealed as selection explained<\/p>\n

The name of the franchise was publicly unveiled prior to kick-off in the men\u2019s Prime Minister\u2019s XIII match between PNG and Australia, which ended 28-10 in favour of the Aussies, over the weekend.<\/p>\n

A video was played on the big screen at the Santos National Stadium counting down to the announcement, with the \u2018Chiefs\u2019 name eventually revealed.<\/p>\n

A logo and colours for the team are yet to be confirmed, but Prime Minister Marape was delighted with how the choice had been received, with \u2018PNG Pythons\u2019 the other name shortlisted.<\/p>\n

Explaining how the decision was reached, he said: \u201cToday\u2019s announcement of the name of our team is an important step in the fitting together the jigsaw to have a run-on team for Round 1, 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201dWe felt that there is an authentic affinity to the name, depicting who we are from ancient times, and today the intention of this team is to hold this diverse nation together.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone felt that Chiefs was more appropriate on the basis that we are a sovereign nation of many tribes; over 850 languages and 1000 tribes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore there was a Prime Minister, and a King or Queen in England, the sovereign head within the tribe was the Chief.<\/p>\n

The new franchise will aim to build on the foundations laid by PNG Hunters, who have formed part of the second-grade Queensland Cup competition Down Under since 2014, with a championship win under their belt in 2017.<\/p>\n

Marape himself had suggested the \u2018Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels\u2019 in honour of the World War II Heroes that helped Australian soldiers along the Kokoda Track, but that name finished 12th in the public vote and wasn\u2019t considered beyond that.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister added: \u201cIn our country, about 30 per cent are matrilineal, so it fits in well when girls run on as Chiefs because there is a traditional context in our history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn East New Britain, Milne Bay, Bougainville and New Ireland, women are also chiefs. They hold land rights, they make the final decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe name just blends in well with the authenticity of where we came from as a nation of so many tribes, united into one nation in 1975 and gifted by Australia. It has a strong meaning to our authentic identity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Papua New Guinea\u2019s new NRL franchise will be called the \u2018PNG Chiefs\u2019, Prime Minister James Marape confirmed over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-210578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}