Australian footy fans fear Anthony Albanese is making a ‘horrible decision’ amid reports the Australian Prime Minister has given the greenlight to AUD$600million (K1.6billion) in funding to launch a new NRL team in Papua New Guinea.
News Corp reports that the federal government has reached an agreement in principle with the ARL Commission to fund the NRL’s 19th team over the course of a 10-year plan.
Albanese reportedly views the massive investment as part of his government’s ‘soft diplomacy’ strategy in the Pacific region, in what is undoubtedly the biggest expansion deal in the sport’s history.
The same outlet reports that the PNG team will enter the competition in 2028, one year after the Western Bears join the league as the 18th club.
The government will fund the Pacific team until 2037, by which time they believe the outfit will be self-funded.
But footy fans are far from convinced by the project, and expressed concern that it is doomed to fail on social media on Wednesday night.
“Horrible decision,” one fan wrote on X. “This won’t work.”
Another said: “Terrible. No fan is going to want to travel there.”
“It may be just me, but I’m struggling to see how this makes any sense,” began a fourth. “Yes PNG is league mad, but how are we expecting them to be competitive in the NRL.
“I’ve visited a number of times, I’m just scratching my head how they are going to attract talent, they can’t just rely on their guys alone.”
A fifth fan simply wrote: “Dollars before sense.”
However, Albanese has staunchly defended the project, describing it as a ‘game changer’.
“This is a game changer for our relationship with Papua New Guinea,” Albanese told News Corp.
“The aim would be for any government funding to be aimed at economic development in schools. It’s not just for the NRL team and to pay Alex Johnston (Souths winger) to play for PNG. “We’re definitely behind the NRL bid and, importantly, Prime Minister (James) Marape in PNG is very much behind an NRL team,” he said.