View source for Pacific Cup

{{Short description|Rugby league competition}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox rugby league football competition
| name           = Pacific Cup
| current_season = 
| logo           = Pacific cup logo.png
| pixels         =200px
| alt            = 
| formerly       = 
| founded        = 1974
| inaugural      = 
| folded         = 2009
| replaced       = [[Pacific Rugby League Championship]]
| teams          = 6
| countrytag     = Region
| country        = [[Pacific Rugby League International|Pacific]]
| gov_body       = [[Pacific Rugby League International|Pacific International]]
| champion       = {{rl|PNG}}
| season         = [[2009 Pacific Cup|2009]]
| most_champs    = {{rl|New Zealand Māori}}
| count          =  4
| website        = 
| TV             = 
| qualification  =
| related_comps  = [[Rugby League European Cup|European Cup]]
}}
{{Season sidebar
| title = Tournaments
| list =
* [[1975 Pacific Cup|1975]]
* [[1977 Pacific Cup|1977]]
* [[1986 Pacific Cup|1986]]
* [[1988 Pacific Cup|1988]]
* [[1990 Pacific Cup|1990]]
* [[1992 Pacific Cup (rugby league)|1992]]
* [[1994 Pacific Cup|1994]]
* [[1997 Oceania Cup|1997]]
* [[2004 Pacific Cup|2004]]
* [[2006 Pacific Cup|2006]]
* [[2009 Pacific Cup|2009]]
}}

The '''Pacific Cup''' was a [[rugby league]] football competition, inaugurated in 1974, as a development competition for [[:Category:National rugby league teams|national teams]] from the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] region outside of Australia and New Zealand. The tournament ceased in 2009. 

In 2019, a similar competition called the "Oceania Cup" was founded. This time it featured Australia and New Zealand, in addition to many of the Pacific Cup nations, who had since established themselves in the sport. The competition has a single edition due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] and was re-founded in 2023 as the [[Rugby League Pacific Championship]].

==History==
The Pacific Cup was started in 1975 by Keith Gittoes of the [[New South Wales Rugby League]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060107203055/http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~maajjs/intcomps.htm International Competitions] ''The Vault''</ref> It was held twice in the 1970s before being abandoned due to cost.

The competition was revived in 1986 by Peter Donnelly. This was a true Pacific Cup with Polynesian players playing for their true country of origin rather than for the NZ Maoris as had previously been the case . The competition was held biennially until the 1996 competition was postponed. Instead a [[1996 Pacific Challenge]] was held. The [[Super League war|Super League]] ran an [[1997 Oceania Cup|Oceania Cup in 1997]].

The Pacific Cup was revived by the [[New Zealand Rugby League]] once again in 2004, this time as a secondary competition to the [[Pacific Rim Championship]]. It was again held in February and March 2006 under NZRL administration, this time as a main competition.

In the post-[[2008 Rugby League World Cup]] shake up of the international calendar by the [[Rugby League International Federation|RLIF]], it was confirmed that a Pacific Cup was to be held in 2009 with the winner of the tournament entering the 2010 [[Rugby League Four Nations|Four Nations]] tournament.

The [[2009 Pacific Cup|2009 tournament]] was hosted by Papua New Guinea.<ref name="ARL-PacCup28-07-2009">{{cite web|url= http://www.australianrugbyleague.com.au/news/article.php?id=1323|publisher= Australian Rugby League|title= Pacific Cup announced|author= ARL (Press Release)|date= 2009-07-28|access-date= 2009-07-29|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090913135900/http://www.australianrugbyleague.com.au/news/article.php?id=1323|archive-date= 13 September 2009}}</ref> The competing teams were [[Cook Islands national rugby league team|Cook Islands]], [[Fiji national rugby league team|Fiji]], [[Papua New Guinea national rugby league team|Papua New Guinea]], [[Samoa national rugby league team|Samoa]] and [[Tonga national rugby league team|Tonga]].<ref name="ARL-PacCup28-07-2009"/>

==Appearances==
Eighteen teams from ten nations have taken part in the 12 Pacific Cup tournaments held to date:
* {{rl|New Zealand Māori}} – 11 appearances
* {{rl|Tonga}} – 10 appearances
* {{rl|Samoa}} – 9 appearances
* {{rl|Cook Islands}} – 7 appearances
* {{rl|Fiji}} – 7 appearances
* {{rl|Papua New Guinea}} – 6 appearances
* {{rl|Tokelau}} – 5 appearances ([[1986 Pacific Cup|1986]], [[1988 Pacific Cup|1988]], [[1990 Pacific Cup|1990]], [[1992 Pacific Cup (rugby league)|1992]], [[2006 Pacific Cup|2006]])
* {{rl|Niue}} – 5 appearances ([[1986 Pacific Cup|1986]], [[1990 Pacific Cup|1990]], [[1992 Pacific Cup (rugby league)|1992]], [[1994 Pacific Cup|1994]], [[Pacific Rim Championship|2004]])
* {{rl|American Samoa}} – 3 appearances ([[1988 Pacific Cup|1988]], [[1992 Pacific Cup (rugby league)|1992]], [[1994 Pacific Cup|1994]])
* [[Image:Australian Aboriginal Flag.svg|22px]] [[Indigenous All Stars (rugby league)|Australian Aborigines]] – 3 appearances ([[1990 Pacific Cup|1990]], [[1992 Pacific Cup (rugby league)|1992]], [[1994 Pacific Cup|1994]])
* {{flagicon|New Zealand}} [[New Zealand Residents rugby league team|New Zealand Residents]] – 2 appearances ([[Pacific Challenge Series|1996]], [[1997 Oceania Cup|1997]])
* {{flag|Western Australia}} – 2 appearances ([[1975 Pacific Cup|1975]], [[1977 Pacific Cup|1977]])
* {{flag|Victoria}} – 2 appearances ([[1975 Pacific Cup|1975]], [[1977 Pacific Cup|1977]])
* {{rl|Fiji|name=Fijian Presidents XIII}} – 1 appearance ([[1994 Pacific Cup|1994]])
* {{flagicon|Rotuma}} [[Rotuma]] – 1 appearance ([[1994 Pacific Cup|1994]])
* {{rl|Norfolk Island}} – 1 appearance ([[1992 Pacific Cup (rugby league)|1992]])
* {{flagicon|Tonga}} Friendly Islands – 1 appearance ([[1990 Pacific Cup|1990]])
* {{flag|Northern Territory}} – 1 appearance ([[1977 Pacific Cup|1977]])

==Finals==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;width:100%; font-size:90%;"
|-
!width=5%|Year
!width=15%|Host
!rowspan="12" style="width:1%;background:#fff"|
!width=14%|Winner
!width=10%|Score
!width=14%|Runner-up
!rowspan="12" style="width:1%;background:#fff"|
!width=14% style="border-right:0px; padding-right:0px; text-align:right;"| Losing semi
!width=14% style="border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left;"|-finalists
!rowspan="12" style="width:1%;background:#fff"|
!width=4%|Number<br>of<br> teams
|-
| [[1975 Pacific Cup|1975]]
|align=left|{{PNG}}
|'''{{rl-big|New Zealand Māori}}'''
|38&ndash;13
|{{rl-big|PNG}}
|rowspan=2|n/a
|rowspan=2|n/a
|4
|-style="background:#D0E6FF"
|[[1977 Pacific Cup|1977]]
|align=left|{{NZL}}
|'''{{rl-big|New Zealand Māori}}'''
|35&ndash;12
|{{flag|Western Australia}}
|5
|-
|[[1986 Pacific Cup|1986]]
|align=left|{{COK}}
|'''{{rl-big|New Zealand Māori}}'''
|23&ndash;6
|{{rl-big|Samoa}}
|{{rl|Tonga}}
|{{rl|Cook Islands}}
|6
|-style="background:#D0E6FF"
|[[1988 Pacific Cup|1988]]
|align=left|{{SAM}}
|'''{{rl-big|New Zealand Māori}}'''
|26&ndash;16
|{{rl-big|Samoa}}
|{{rl|Tonga}}
|{{rl|Cook Islands}}
|6
|-
|[[1990 Pacific Cup|1990]]
|align=left|{{TON}}
|'''{{rl-big|Samoa}}'''
|26&ndash;18
|{{rl-big|New Zealand Māori}}
|{{rl|Tonga}}
|[[Image:Australian Aboriginal Flag.svg|22px]] [[Australian Aboriginal rugby league team|Australian Aboriginies]]
|8
|-style="background:#D0E6FF"
|[[1992 Pacific Cup (rugby league)|1992]]
|align=left|{{NZL}}
|'''{{rl-big|Samoa}}'''
|18&ndash;14
|{{rl-big|Tonga}}
|{{rl|New Zealand Māori}}
|[[Image:Australian Aboriginal Flag.svg|22px]] [[Australian Aboriginal rugby league team|Australian Aboriginies]]
|10
|-
|[[1994 Pacific Cup|1994]]
|align=left|{{FIJ}}
|'''{{rl-big|Tonga}}'''
|34&ndash;11
|{{rl-big|Fiji}}
|{{rl|Samoa}}
|[[Image:Australian Aboriginal Flag.svg|22px]] [[Australian Aboriginal rugby league team|Australian Aboriginies]]
|9
|-
|style="background:#D0E6FF"|[[1997 Oceania Cup|1997]]
|style="background:#D0E6FF" align=left|{{NZL}}
|style="background:#D0E6FF"|'''{{flagicon|NZL}}<br>[[New Zealand Residents rugby league team|New Zealand Residents]]'''
|style="background:#D0E6FF"|20&ndash;15
|style="background:#D0E6FF"|{{rl-big|New Zealand Māori}}
|rowspan=3|n/a
|rowspan=3|n/a
|style="background:#D0E6FF"|6
|-
|[[Pacific Rim Championship|2004]]
|align=left|{{NZL}}
|'''{{rl-big|Cook Islands}}'''
|26&ndash;16
|{{rl-big|New Zealand Māori}}
|6
|-style="background:#D0E6FF"
|[[2006 Pacific Cup|2006]]
|align=left|{{NZL}}
|'''{{rl-big|Tonga}}'''
|22&ndash;14
|{{rl-big|Fiji}}
|6
|-
|[[2009 Pacific Cup|2009]]
|align=left|{{PNG}}
|'''{{rl-big|PNG}}'''
|42&ndash;14
|{{rl-big|Cook Islands}}
|{{rl|Tonga}}
|{{rl|Fiji}}
|5
|}

===Results===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Team !! Titles !! Runners-up !! Semi-finals 
|-
|style="background:#fff68f"|{{rl|New Zealand Māori}}
|style="background:#fff68f"|4 (1975, 1977, 1986, 1988)
|1 (1990)
|1 (1992)
|-
|style="background:#fff68f"|{{rl|Tonga}}
|style="background:#fff68f"|2 (1994, 2006)
|1 (1992)
|4 (1986, 1988, 1990, 2009)
|-
|style="background:#fff68f"|{{rl|Samoa}}
|style="background:#fff68f"|2 (1990, 1992)
|2 (1986, 1988)
|1 (1994)
|-
|style="background:#fff68f"|{{rl|Cook Islands}}
|style="background:#fff68f"|1 (2004)
|1 (2009)
|2 (1986, 1988)
|-
|style="background:#fff68f"|{{rl|PNG}}
|style="background:#fff68f"|1 (2009)
|1 (1975)
| -
|-
|style="background:#fff68f"|{{flagicon|New Zealand}} [[New Zealand Residents rugby league team|New Zealand Residents]]
|style="background:#fff68f"|1 (1997)
| -
| -
|-
|{{rl|Fiji}}
| -
|2 (1994, 2007)
|1 (2009)
|-
|{{flag|Western Australia}}
| -
|1 (1977)
| -
|-
|[[Image:Australian Aboriginal Flag.svg|22px]] [[Australian Aboriginal rugby league team|Australian Aboriginies]]
| -
| -
|3 (1990, 1992, 1994)
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Sports}}
*[[Pacific Rugby League Championship]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==

{{Rugby League in Oceania}}
{{International Rugby League}}

[[Category:Pacific Cup| ]]
[[Category:Rugby league international tournaments]]
[[Category:Oceanian rugby league competitions]]