The Papua New Guinea National Rugby League Competition (or the PNGNRL for short, for sponsorship reasons the PNGNRL Digicel-ExxonMobil Cup) is a semi-professional rugby league competition held annually in Papua New Guinea. Changes in sponsorship have meant that it was formerly known as the SP Inter-City Cup or SP Cup (1990–2008) and later the Bemobile Cup (2009–2010). The current competition is sponsored by pacific telecommunications giant Digicel and new co-naming rights sponsor ExxonMobil (one of the world's largest publicly traded oil and gas companies) which joined in 2023 and so it is currently called the Digicel-ExxonMobil Cup.

History Previous to 2005 the PNG NRL was called the SP Inter-City Cup. The national competition was known as the SP Cup, and has been held since 1990. No national club competition was held in 2004. The PNGRFL instead staged a national zone championship, won by Southern Zone, who beat Highlands Zone 22–4 in the final at Lae to take the SP Shield and K4,000 in prize money. The development plan the PNGRFL published that month set the start of a new national competition for April 2005. The competition returned for the 2005 season as the new-look PNGNRL.

The 2005 season had eight teams in total from all around Papua New Guinea. In 2006, one team was relegated (Monier Broncos) to make way for two new teams, Central Raiders and Pagini Warriors. The winner of the relaunched competition in 2005 was the Agmark Gurias, who beat the Brian Bell Bulldogs in Port Moresby.

In 2009, the local mobile telecommunications company Bemobile took over from SP Brewery as the competition's major sponsor. Nine teams competed at that time.

On February 9, 2011, telecommucations company Digicel who has taken over the industry in PNG since its operation started in 2007, announced that it will be sponsoring PNG's premier sporting event for the next five years.

Sponsorship Names SP Inter-City Cup – (1990–2008) Bemobile Cup – (2009–10) Digicel Cup – (2011–2022) Digicel-ExxonMobil Cup – (2023–present)

Teams

2025 Digicel Cup TeamsTeam Stadium City/Area Central Dabaris Oil Search National Football Stadium Port Moresby, National Capital District Enga Mioks Johnson Siki Aipus Wabag, Enga Province Goroka Lahanis National Sports Institute Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province Gulf Isou Oil Search National Football Stadium Kerema, Gulf Province Hela Wigmen Oil Search National Football Stadium Tari Hela Province Kimbe Cutters Muthuvel Stadium Kimbe, West New Britain Province Lae Snax Tigers Lae League Oval Lae, Morobe Province Mendi Muruks Joseph Keviame Oval Mendi, Southern Highlands Province Mt. Hagen Eagles Rebiamul Oval Mt. Hagen, Western Highlands Province Port Moresby Vipers Oil Search National Football Stadium Port Moresby, National Capital District Rabaul Gurias Kalabond Oval Kokopo, East New Britain Province Waghi Tumbe Minj Oval Minj, Jiwaka Province

History of Premiers

Year Premiers Runners Up Score Attendance 1990 Port Moresby Vipers Mt Hagen Eagles 22–14 9,230 1991 Port Moresby Vipers Mt Hagen Eagles 18–18 8,900 1992 Port Moresby Vipers Mt Hagen Eagles 36–0 12,112 1993 Goroka Lahanis Port Moresby Vipers 22–10 8,291 1994 Port Moresby Vipers Goroka Lahanis 36–30 8,011 1995 Lae Bombers Mendi Muruks 28–18 10,232 1996 Mendi Muruks Kundiawa Warriors 11–10 12,312 1997 Mt Hagen Eagles Lae Bombers 19–16 10,271 1998 Mt Hagen Eagles Mendi Muruks 14–6 9,278 1999 Goroka Lahanis Rabaul Gurias 24–0 10,812 2000 Enga Mioks Rabaul Gurias 36–20 14,123 2001 Rabaul Gurias Goroka Lahanis 18–2 10,912 2002 Lae Bombers Rabaul Gurias 14–12 12,321 2003 Rabaul Gurias Lae Bombers 17–16 12,381 2004 Mendi Menjals Popondetta Butterflies 22–0 12,322 2005 Rabaul Gurias Port Moresby Bulldogs 14–13 10,249 2006 Mendi Muruks Goroka Lahanis 19–14 12,021 2007 Mendi Muruks Rabaul Gurias 42–6 11,000+ 2008 Mendi Muruks Mt Hagen Eagles 14–4 12,000+ 2009 Rabaul Gurias Enga Mioks 24–14 15,000+ 2010 Goroka Lahanis Mendi Muruks 21–10 20,000+ 2011 Goroka Lahanis Rabaul Gurias 20–10 20,000+ 2012 Rabaul Gurias Mendi Muruks 14–10 20,000+ 2013 Port Moresby Vipers Goroka Lahanis 36–14 20,000+ 2014 Hela Wigmen Agmark Gurias 34–8 2015 Rabaul Gurias TNA Simbu Lions 26–18 20,000+ 2016 Lae Snax Tigers Rabaul Gurias 14–8 20,000+ 2017 Lae Snax Tigers Rabaul Gurias 11–10 20,000+ 2018 Goroka Lahanis Enga Mioks 10–6 20,000+2019Lae Snax TigersHela Wigmen15–420,000+2020Hela WigmenLae Snax Tigers16–14 2021Lae Snax TigersWaghi Tumbe16–10 2022Hela WigmenRabaul Gurias8–62023Enga MioksGoroka Lahanis26–62024Mt Hagen EaglesHela Wigmen28–2013,9002025Lae Snax Tigers Mendi Muruks36–162026Rabaul Gurias Mendi Muruks26–1414,000+

Performance by team

Team Win Runners Up Winning years Runners Up years Rabaul Gurias 7 8 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2026 1999, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2022 Goroka Lahanis 5 6 1993, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2018 1994, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2023 Port Moresby Vipers 5 2 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 2013 1993, 2005 (as Port Moresby Bulldogs) Lae Snax Tigers 5 1 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2025 2020 Mendi Muruks 4 6 1996, 2006, 2007, 2008 1995, 1998, 2010, 2012, 2025, 2026 Mt Hagen Eagles 3 4 1997, 1998, 2024 1990, 1991, 1992, 2008 Hela Wigmen 3 2 2014, 2020, 2022 2019, 2024 Lae Bombers 2 2 1995, 2002 1997, 2003 Enga Mioks 2 2 2000, 2023 2009, 2018 Waghi Tumbe 0 1 2021 TNA Simbu Lions 0 1 2015 Kundiawa Warriors 0 1 1996

See also

Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League

Notes

References

External links