PNG RUGBY LEAGUE - RUGBY LEAGUE AND ITS CRAZY FEELINGS

 

TWO TRY HERO - halfback Lachlan Lam who starred in the Kumuls epic win.
Picture courtesy of NRL Photos (C)

IN MEMORY OF A KUMUL GREAT – FULLBACK PHILIP BOGE 

A Post-Courier editorial

RUGBY League has a crazy way of dealing with the feelings of Papua New Guineans.

The result of a hotly contested local game can send you to bed either full or on an empty tank, depending on which side of the dinner table you are propped up on.

In PNG, some take it overboard, over the fence, sometimes, off the verandah, and into the deep blue sea, especially in deeply divisive games like the huge fan favourite, the NSW Blues and the Qld Maroons series each year.

Bets are won or lost, friendships are severed for a few heady weeks and marriages can be very rocky either side of halftime.

Last Sunday night, a host of diehard Blues fans all over PNG and the world went home with their heads held high after they smashed the maroons in game 2 to send the series into a decider.

But some spectacularly representative footy games actually unify the thousand tribes in the land where Steeden rules, 40-20 is bus fare, captains challenge can cause a flour balls riot and the video ref is actually part of the popular Filipino drama, and rugby league is king.

GAME BREAKER: Justin's two try assists in both halves set the tone for the Kumuls victory.
Picture courtesy of NRL Photos (C)

Last Saturday night, the Land of Beautiful Birds of Paradise, buffeted by Covid-19, and divided by a restive national general election now underway, did not have to look far for a night of solid unity.

United by pride as the Red Black and Gold flickered and featured on global TV in the Pacific Test Series, the country moaned in unison and groaned in unified glee as the mighty PNG LNG Kumuls took on and conquered the NRL star studded Fiji Bati.

We know Viliame. He is big. And Maika Sivo, the bugger is fast. And Tui Kamikamica. Well, he was steamrolled by PNG’s Nixon Putt. We watch these big Fijians on TV and we applaud their muscle and speed and kava tonic.

But Saturday night, we had more than enough reasons to roll them back to Savu Savu Bay. We were sending our captain Courageous David Mead off, and he got a Lachlan Lam special for a final hurrah - a last Test try which will a highlight reel for years to come!

PNG Kumul stars Justin Olam and Lachlan Lam set up camp at the might Western Suburbs Magpies home ground Campbelltown Stadium and their sizzling ‘lamb flaps’ slick play was the fare for a night of cheer when Olam set up Lam up in both halves for two of the Tests ‘buai’ charged feelings.

100 PERCENT : Kyle Laybutts boots counted in the game with a one hundred percent record.
Picture courtesy of NRL Photos (C)

The NRL’s leading try scorer Alex Johnston held his own as the proverbial last line of never say die ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy’ workmanship and his try savers held PNG hearts from fainting.

As we ponder Saturday night’s remarkable win, we also remember the great Kumuls of the past, whose own gladiatorial performances over the years, were the glue to PNG rugby league glory, and national unity.

In the big village Hanuabada, one proud family watched the Kumuls epic win with a great sense of relief and a tinge of sadness as they also recalled two generations of their own contributions to rugby league.

As we celebrate the Pacific Test victory, we also remember and salute the amazing heroics of Kumul # 120, late Philip Boge of Hanuabada, who passed away last Tuesday in Port Moresby.

Who can forget the Townsville Test of 1992 when Boge put on a ‘boom shakalaka’ bone rattler on Australian wing Michael Hancock who was on his way to a certain four pointer for the Kangaroos?

Hancock did not see it coming. He only realised it when the dust settled, the stars stopped spining and he was stretched off the parl. 

Sensationally, that one big bang effectively ended Hancock’s representative career.

Boge (right)  went on to represent PNG as fullback in several more Tests before retiring and continuing his connection as rugby league development officer with the PNG RFL.

In a Test against the World Champions at the famous Lloyd Robson Oval, his jinking run and side step against the Kangaroos to set up a try brought thousands to their feet.

In fact, no family in PNG can count the blessings of their sons on representative rugby league more than the contribution of the Boge family.

Theirs remains a historical part of PNG Rugby League in supplying PNG’s first Test fullback, the booming late Dikana Ten Gun Boge, (Kumul # 20) who starred in the 1977 defeat of the touring France Roosters, and late Philip Boge (Kumul #120), who, like his older sibling, was as fearless as the last man standing.

Vale Philip Boge.

DOZER: Nixon Putt receives his jersey from captain and retiring skipper David Mead (right). Looking on is PNGRFL CEO Stanley Hondina (left). Picture courtesy of NRL Photos (C).