give blood, play rugby

On the way into work this morning, coasting along Ela Beach, and I saw a woman wearing a t-shirt reading "Give Blood. Play Rugby." with no explanation as to what event or reason would have caused the giving of blood and the playing of rugby to be brought together. Sounds good enough though.

PNG is the only country in the world whose national sport is rugby league! PNGns are mad for the sport and hold players and referrees and anyone remotely connected, including television commentators from Australia, in very high regard.

Apart from our national obsession with what happens on the footy pitches in Australia, we have our own national league with teams representing their provinces. Unfortunately it seems every week brings some kind of public embarrassment to a particular team, the league or both. Just this week, 3 players from the Mendi Muruks were hauled away from the airport for drunk & disorderly behaviour. Some of these players act like there are no rules for them but it's a bit of a disgrace when kids look up to these people. And one has to question how seriously they take they committment to the game - a month ago, my own provincial team, the Enga Mioks, lost in Port Moresby basically because they're pretty unfit (due to no off-season prep) & they'd been out the night before.

The slogan might read "Drink Beer. Play Rugby." A sad endictment.