Bai in action with Leeds United

Finally, a Rugby League invasion

By Patrick Matbob

They came by the coach load. Thousands of men, women and children in a sea of blue and yellow and black and white colours last Saturday morning. It was a sight to see, the invasion from Yorkshire, of the usually quiet city of Cardiff.

Bai in action for Leeds

They parked everywhere on the streets and headed for the Millennium Stadium but first stopping off at the nearest pub in the true British pasin to quench their thirsts.

I had been trying to get a ticket to the Powergen Challenge rugby league match two weeks earlier. However, I had little luck since Wales was the home of the opposing code. At the ticketing office, the guy was apologetic.

“Rugby League? No, we are not selling tickets, and to be honest, I don’t know where you can get them.”

I gave up and went home deciding to try at the gates on the day of the game.

I wanted to see the match for two reasons: firstly, Marcus Bai was playing and I wanted badly to see another wantok just to confirm that I was not the only PNG soul living in south of England, and secondly, I wanted to see the inside of the Millennium stadium. It is a superb structure seen from outside in any direction perched on River Taff.

Now the sounds of a fiesta were everywhere especially the loud honks that made you jump every time they went off near you. There must have been well over 50,000 visitors. The only other times that I had seen a crowd this big in the city was when Manchester United took on Chelsea in one of the FA cup clash and, of course, when England got hammered by Wales in the Rugby Union clash early this year. The Welsh celebrated for weeks after that.

There was no chance of getting tickets to these matches – they were sold out well before hand. But I knew that with rugby league which was not so popular here in the south, I would have a chance at the gate.

Indeed, of all the time I had been here I had only seen one familiar game of touch rugby being played by soldiers from the Maindy barracks nearby. It was a sight to see after so many months that I stopped to watch. It reminded me of the DWU oval in Madang where the students played touch almost every afternoon.

The support for rugby union here is such that sometimes I hesitate to wear my All Black jersey that I had brought from home. It draws attention. In fact, when I first arrived I wore it regularly because it was cold and the jersey – an original Canterbury brand from New Zealand - was warm and comfortable. However, I noticed that it was attracting attention from those wearing the red Welsh and white English colours. Until one day, this lady in the University canteen, who never talked to me before blurted out: “You support the All Blacks?” It was as if All Blacks was an infectious disease.

I could have answered, “I’m just cold” which was the true answer.

Instead I just said something about being from that part of the world. “And no,” I added before she could ask another question “I’m not African.”

But wearing the jersey did have its good moments. I was in the supermarket when this guy whom I could swear was a Caribbean or Latin American came up to me and asked if I was from Fiji? No, Papua New Guinea I answered. It turned out he was from Vanuatu and when he saw the jersey, he knew immediately I was from the South Pacific. So for the first I got to speak some Tok Pisin with him and his family.

However, I decided not to wear it for the rugby league clash. The hiding that the Kiwi lads gave to Sir Clive Woodward’s men this year is still painfully fresh.

Sure enough when I got to the ticketing office this time, there were still tickets being sold. I bought a £15 one, the cheapest, and made my way across to the stadium. I got in two hours early to watch the curtain raiser clash.

But before getting my seat, I sidled up to the bar at the back to ask for a pint of Brains – em tru bia bilong Wales. The joke about this beer, an English/Welsh friend told me, was to go up to the bar and ask the bar girl if she had any Brains! However, I had never been game enough to try it – not when some of these Welsh bar girls are much bigger than me.

This time however, the girl behind the bar was a course mate of mine and was Chinese. So when I asked for a pint of brains she gave me a blank stare. “Brains”, I said, and she pointed to the Tetley’s sign on the counter. No, brains I repeated stopping the urge to tap my forehead in the old schoolmaster fashion. Instead I pointed to the big Brains sign behind her and all mystery was solved much to the amusement of the other customers.

Drinking a pint so early in the day had its drawback as I found out. Soon I had the call of nature and made my way to the back. The gents was so packed full, it was actually really funny. Had my situation been not so pressing, or depressing should I say, I would have given up. But there we were shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip, with everyone counting the spiders on the ceiling and struggling to get the business done. That definitely dried up my thirst for any more Brains.

Finally, when the players ran onto the field, I was happy to find myself amongst the Leeds fans. It was obvious that the spectators had been divided with the majority of the Hull fans placed in the north-eastern stands while we were in the south-western area.

Bai commanded a huge following amongst the Leeds supporters and every time he touched the ball, a huge cheer would go up. “Go Bai, go Bai”.

I could swear that one of the songs the fans were singing was the introductory part to Barike’s song “Mama, Mi Laik Go Long Dens” and goes “Aie, Aio, Aie, Aio”. Bai must have had something to do with the song I thought. To hear this familiar tune was heart warming amongst all these strangers so far from home.

And when Bai zeroed in on the cross kick and outpaced his opposite number, a planned move that was executed to perfection, it was standing room only as the crowd went wild.

I had never seen Bai play live in a rugby league match before. But his powerful performance at the stadium demonstrated why he is a champion and amongst the best in the world. He is solid in defence, and a potent attacking player.

When match was over, and Leeds had lost by a mere point, I felt satisfied having seen Bai in action. He is a fine ambassador for PNG and will be a loss to Leeds when he leaves at the end of the season for Bradford. The impact of his loss is such that Leeds is considering Wendell Sailor, Matt Rogers and Lote Tuqiri as likely replacements.

Surely, amongst our thousands budding league players in PNG there must be at least one more Marcus Bai out there!

Ends..