Rugby league in the Cook Islands

Rugby league is the most popular team sport played in the Cook Islands. Rugby league is recognised as the national sport of the country.
Popularity.
History.
Officially the club rugby league competition commenced 1980. The first international match was played against Niue at the 1986 Pacific Cup which was hosted in Rarotonga and also included teams from Samoa, Tonga, NZ Maori and Tokelau. In the mid 1990s rugby league in the Cook Islands received significant funding through the SuperLeague organisation. Traditionally, much of the rugby league played by Cook Islanders has been in Australia and New Zealand where there are strong Cook Island populations.
In more recent times, Cook Islands rugby league has received a major boost through the involvement of former professional rugby league players Kevin Iro and Matt Rua - both native Cook Islanders - in the form of selector and defensive coach for the national side. Both players represented New Zealand internationally and played many NRL games.
Rugby league is the national sport and the most popular sport in the Cook Islands.
Current players of Cook Islands descent.
NRL
Super League
Competition.
The domestic Cook Islands rugby league competition for 2010 begins on 5 February with the following teams competing:
The National Team.
Other representative sides.
In 2005 the Cook Islands Rugby League Avaiki XIII Tri Series was played between three Cook Island sides (Australian Cook Island Style, NZ Cooks and a Resident XIII). The winners of the series were the Australian Cook Islands Style team. This was used to select the national side that drew a three match series with the New Zealand Māori
Results.
NZ Cooks v Resident XIII, 25 November 2005
Australian Cook Island Style 26 NZ Cooks 14
Australian Cook Island Style 24 Residents XIII 18, 18 November 2005 changed