New Zealand Rugby has stepped up its fight with the NRL over the name of rugby league’s newest club, the Papua New Guinea Chiefs, arguing the Waikato Super Rugby franchise has owned the Chiefs brand for three decades.
The dispute came into the open this week when NZ Rugby confirmed it had written to the NRL, most recently last week, about the league’s decision to call its 19th team the Chiefs. The Port Moresby club is due to join the NRL in 2028 and had planned to unveil its logo and playing kit next month, the NZ Herald reported.
“The Chiefs have been a professional rugby club since 1996 and has an established identity and fanbase, both in the Pacific region and globally,” NZ Rugby said in a statement. “This 30-year identity includes the Chiefs name, logo and distinctive colours.”
The statement went on to set out the legal ground the national body is standing on. “There are long-standing registered trademarks for the Chiefs logo in New Zealand and internationally, including in Australia. In addition, New Zealand Rugby has sought additional wordmark protections for the Chiefs name and made an application to IP Australia in October last year.”
NZ Rugby said its “focus is on protecting the Chiefs trademark and working with all parties towards a positive outcome.” It told RNZ Pacific the ball was now in the NRL’s court.
The fight over the name has been running quietly for almost a year. PNG Prime Minister James Marape announced the Chiefs name in October 2025 after a public naming competition that drew more than 20,000 entries and talks between the PNG and Australian governments and the Australian Rugby League Commission. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, as reported by RNZ, the NRL applied to IP Australia to register PNG Chiefs as a trademark two days later. That application has still not been approved because of NZ Rugby’s objection.
In a February submission, the NRL’s lawyers argued that the same nickname already sits comfortably across many codes and cities. “For example, there are many different sports teams from different locations that share names like Tigers, Panthers, Lions, Bears and Broncos, just to name a few,” they said. RNZ reported that IP Australia took the opposite view in its assessment, finding that fans might struggle to tell the PNG Chiefs apart from the Super Rugby Chiefs.
The Hamilton-based franchise was once officially the Waikato Chiefs and now plays as the Gallagher Chiefs. It also runs the Chiefs Manawa women’s side in Super Rugby Aupiki and an under-20 team. RNZ reported the company has held its Australian trademark for the name and logo since 1998, with the next renewal due in August 2028, the same year the PNG side is meant to kick off. The rugby Chiefs won Super Rugby titles in 2012 and 2013 under Dave Rennie, now the All Blacks coach.
Colours could make the NRL’s position harder. The rugby Chiefs play in black, red and yellow, which are also the colours of the PNG flag and the colours the new league club has been using on social media. Intellectual property barrister Earl Gray of Sangro Chambers told Newstalk ZB, in comments reported by the Herald, that NZ Rugby would have a strong case in court.
“If they’re the same colours, then arguments that people aren’t going to be confused get a bit more difficult,” Gray said. “There’ll be merchandise, and that’s a key area for all teams, which is on sale potentially in the same stores.”
He said a New Zealand court case could stop the league side using the name here. “If they [NZR] sued in New Zealand, then they would likely get an injunction to stop that name being used.”
Gray also said he did not expect NZ Rugby to back down. “It’s a valuable brand which they’d be looking to enforce and that’s you know, that’s why you have rights. You have rights because at some stage you might have to use them to stop someone doing something.”
There is a local precedent. The Auckland-based Football Kings were challenged over their name when the Sydney Kings basketball franchise objected. The football side first refused to budge, then changed the spelling to Football Kingz rather than go to court. On the other hand, plenty of clubs do share a nickname without trouble, including football’s Wellington Phoenix and basketball’s South East Melbourne Phoenix. Vanuatu United, one of the clubs in the new OFC Pro League, is also nicknamed the Chiefs.
For Papua New Guinea the name carries weight beyond marketing. Marape chose it as the country marked 50 years of independence in 2025, and RNZ reported he liked that the word chief can describe a male or female leader in PNG. The club plans to field an NRLW women’s team under the same name.
The club is also a big diplomatic project. Canberra has committed A$600 million over 10 years as part of a wider Pacific rugby league partnership, and the Herald reported the PNG and Australian governments are backing tax-free salary arrangements to draw players to Port Moresby. The Chiefs have already signed players including Jarome Luai and former Kiwis centre Joseph Manu. Australia has also announced a cheap special visa for Papua New Guineans travelling for NRL games from 2028.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has thrown his weight behind the club as well. Standing beside Marape earlier this month, he predicted plenty of New Zealanders would fly to Port Moresby for games once a direct flight from Auckland starts in 2028. “I’m telling you, you’re gonna get a lot of Kiwis coming up to watch those league games,” Luxon said, the Herald reported.
That leaves the two codes in an awkward spot. The NRL has a government-backed club, a name chosen by a Prime Minister and a logo launch pencilled in for October. NZ Rugby has 30 years of trademarks and an objection that has already held up the league’s application for nearly a year. 1News reported the NRL has not yet had its trademark approved.
Should the NRL find a new name for its Papua New Guinea team, or is there room for two Chiefs in the Pacific? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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