Rugby League World Cup enjoys second sell out in Port Moresby

The Rugby League World Cup 2017 has revealed that today's match between Papua New Guinea and Ireland at Port Moresby’s Oil Search National Football Stadium has sold out.

It is the second successive RLWC2017 match to be sold out in Papua New Guinea after a capacity crowd of 14,800 watched the Kumuls defeat Wales last weekend.

The latest sell-out in PNG comes less than 24-hours after the biggest attendance for a rugby league match in New Zealand this year turned out to watch Saturday night's RLWC2017 clash between Samoa-Tonga match at Hamilton’s Waikato Stadium.

The crowd of 18,156 exceeded the 17,587 fans who watched New Zealand's 38-8 defeat of Samoa at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium the previous weekend.

However, while Papua New Guinea and New Zealand have embraced the tournament, crowds in Sydney, one of rugby league’s traditional heartlands, have been smaller.

A crowd of just 10,237 turned up at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium in rainy conditions to watch England take on Lebanon.

English media representatives who attended the game highlighted poor publicity in the lead-up to the game, comparing crowds with the 2013 edition which was staged in England.

Even Fox Sports NRL commentator Andrew Voss slammed the promotion of Lebanon game in his weekly foxsports.com.au column.

Voss wrote “I got the shock of my life last week to see a bloke wrapping League World Cup posters around telegraph poles to advertise the England-Lebanon game.

“Seriously? Someone signed off on that? Talk about cheapen your product.”

Perhaps most scathing assessment came was Chris Irvine from The Times, who reckoned Sydney had turned into “the grave” of rugby league compared to “the cradle” it once was.

He tweeted “Watched #rugbyleague several times at a packed Sydney Football Stadium. Organisers/promoters need to hang their heads in shame #ENGvLEB.”

When former NRL Chief Executive Dave Smith negotiated the rights to host the tournament he promised the Rugby League International Federation a $12 million profit. This was an ambitious projection given Sydney's historical indifference to international rugby league.

While the Queensland Government pledged $8 million for a package that includes semi-finals and the final and Papua New Guinea paid $5 million for three games, Destination NSW did not contribute.

As a result, Sydney is only hosting two RLWC2017 games, both involving Lebanon.

The games in Sydney against England and Australia had been expected to tap into interest in rugby league among Australians of Lebanese heritage.

Image: Crowds in Port Moresby during the pre-event tour of the Rugby League World Cup trophy.

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