SYDNEY (AP) — Australia’s National Rugby League is set to expand its sporting footprint more than 3,000 kilometers (1,860 miles) west of Sydney a year ahead of going a similar distance in another direction to add another new team in the South Pacific.
The Australian Rugby League Commission on Thursday said it had agreed in principle to a revised proposal from the Western Australia state government for an NRL franchise in Perth, the state capital. It is set to begin play in 2027.
A team in rugby league-mad Papua New Guinea is set to enter the NRL in 2028, making it a 19-team competition, with 20 clubs being the league’s ambition.
Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby, where the team would be based, is 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) north of Sydney.
The in-principle agreement for the Perth franchise, likely to be known as the Perth Bears, must also be signed off by the existing 17 clubs and the Rugby League Players’ Association.
Australia’s premier rugby league competition originated in Sydney but has expanded to include a team in New Zealand, a team in the national capital, Canberra, a team in Victoria state capital, Melbourne, and four teams in Queensland state.
Perth previously had a rugby league franchise, the Western Reds, in a nation-wide competition in the mid-1990s but the club was disbanded in 1997.
Rugby league is a 13-a-side game played mostly in the Australasia and northern England. Rugby union is traditionally a 15-a-side game with a global footprint.
There’s a rugby union franchise, known as the Western Force, in the Super Rugby competition that takes in teams from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Pacific islands.
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