Papua New Guinea Police Wants State Of Origin Live Broadcast Banned Due To Killings

Papua New Guinea’s police has called the country’s government to ban the Live Broadcast of the State of Origin series in PNG after news spread that the annual rugby competition caused several post-match fighting and killings. Reports from the Big Lead says that there is a push to ban the live telecast of the rugby game in one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world because of the resulting violence that breaks out after matches.

News.com.au reported that drunken celebrations caused the deaths of at least three people in Port Moresby and in the country’s north during this year’s State of Origins series, while violent squabbles between rival supporters break out after almost every encounter. The report also said that houses and business were also ravaged by angry fans during the most recent match between Queensland Maroons and New South Wales Blues.

Reports from ABC added that a youth was charged with killing another following an argument over the series match result. Local media reported last week that young people in Enga Province outside Wabag assaulted each other with stones after watching the series decider last Wednesday. It was reported that a lot o people were hurt and "some tried to attack cops as well."

“After the final State of Origin match, they [opposition fans] started attacking each other. The Blues side started arguing with the supporters of the winning side, then they started throwing punches and then stones and missiles,” a police spokesman said.

Enga provincial police commander Chief Superintendent George Kakas has compared the PNG Origin fans to worshipping a cult after rugby fans sacrifice their life for a cause and stated that the Origin series was of no benefit to the Papua New Guineans according to the reports of Sportal.com.au. Kakas added that there were "a lot of killings" around the place because of State of Origin matches.

“I call on the government of Papua New Guinea to ban the live coverage of Origin matches in Papua New Guinea. It’s a game where people normally watch and enjoy themselves but nowadays it’s not that, it’s changing, supporters of the Blues and supporters of the Maroons, they’ve started to hate each other, argue,” Kakas said as per the Guardian.

Local police recorded a total of six arrests and three deaths after the Origin series on June. However, this was not the first time an Origin-related violence broke out in PNG. In 2009, three people were killed during a celebration.

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