Young New Guineans

Show 'Em How!

By Jim Huxley

Although Papua-New Guinea will be fielding a young and strong Union football team at the Noumea Games in December, it is a New Guinean Rugby League team that Australian crowds are talking about following a recent Australian tour.

THE youngsters from Papua-New Guinea, playing barefoot, thrilled crowds in Brisbane, Sydney and New South Wales country centres, and the tour was such an over whelming success that other territory schoolboy teams will be invited on similar visits.

The highlight of the recent tour came at the Sydney Cricket Ground, when more than 62,000 spectators saw the New Guineans play a curtain raiser to the third and deciding “Test” match between Great Britain and Australia. It was also the third and deciding Test between the under-eight stone schoolboys from New Guinea and a team from New South Wales.

New Guinea won the game—l 3 goals to five, and then Australia went on to complete a satisfying day for the Sydney fans with a con vincing 19-14 victory over the British visitors.

The New Guineans lost only two of the 10 games they played in Australia—and the scoring was often

something remarkable. They crushed a combined Brisbane eight-stone side 31-0. At Tam worth they beat north west New South Wales 21-8. They accounted for a Newcastle combina tion 14-8. At Wollongong they won 13-5, and at Forbes they thrashed the locals 19 to 0.

Everywhere they gave an out standing display of clean, entertaining football, running and handling intel ligently, kicking with good results and tackling around the legs in copy book manner.

The Australian crowds were especially fascinated with the way the visitors successfully kicked at goal at long range, barefoot.

The young New Guineans were selected after a series of trial matches in Port Moresby among teams from Goroka, Rabaul, Lae and Moresby.

The territory combination then went into camp at Sogeri, above Port Moresby, for a week’s coaching before heading south to earn their laurels.

The barefoot New Guineans pass the ball during a "Test" against NSW at the Sydney Cricket Ground.