North Queensland Cowboys debutant Marly Bitungane added another country to the NRL’s birthplace map last weekend when he came off the bench against Cronulla.
Bitugane was born in the African nation of Tanzania before moving to Australia at an early age.
We’re looking at some of the unlikeliest outposts to bear future premiership players.
SWITZERLAND
Tim Johannsen made one interchange appearance for Wests Tigers last year, in a 48-30 loss to North Queensland. He was born in Locarno, Ticino in Switzerland
The Newcastle and Western Suburbs NSW Cup regular left for South Sydney this year, where he has been a mainstay for the Rabbitohs’ second-tier team.
GREECE
Born in Symi, South Aegean in Greece, Vic Catrios played two games for St George in the front-row in 1926
Greece’s most famous rugby league product, however, is George Peponis, who was born in Tripoli, Peloponnese. He was just 18 months old when he emigrated to Australia with his family.
A Canterbury junior, Peponis broke into first grade in 1974 and played in a grand final in just his ninth appearance. He skippered the Bulldogs in their 1979 grand final loss to St George and their drought-breaking 1980 victory over Eastern Suburbs.
Peponis was named as Bob Fulton’s successor as Australian Test captain, leading his country to a 3-0 sweep of Great Britain in 1979 and on the 1980 tour of New Zealand.
If his status as an immigrant rugby league trailblazer wasn’t enough, Peponis achieved further fame as a ‘footballing doctor’, having passed his medical exams during the early years of his career. The Bulldogs’ Player of the Year award is named in his honour.
GERMANY
A forward for North Sydney in six games during the 1909 season, Harry Sandow was believed to have been born in Germany.
SPAIN
Canberra Raiders foundation cult hero Angel Marina was born in Spain and grew up in Queanbeyan.
The winger scored eight tries in 15 games in 1982, including a double on debut against Penrith and a hat-trick in a rare win over St George. He ultimately played just six more first-grade games beyond that season but holds a treasured niche in Raiders history.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Born in Anderstown, Belfast in Northern Ireland in 1954, John Berne relocated to Australia with his family in 1961.
The Randwick centre represented the Wallabies in 1975 before switching to rugby league, playing 125 games for Souths, Easts and Cronulla.
IRELAND
Pioneering great Larry O’Malley was born in Ireland, featuring in Eastern Suburbs’ first six seasons and touring with the 1908-09 Kangaroos.
Dublin-born Jim Keating turned out for Glebe in 1913.
Hailing from Cork, Brian Carney starred for Gateshead, Hull FC and Wigan in Super League and represented Ireland and Great Britain. A sole season with Newcastle in 2006 netted 16 tries and Dally M Winger of the Year honours, but he reneged on a deal to be a foundation Gold Coast Titans player.
Carney switched to rugby union with Munster, playing Tests for Ireland, then returned to Super League with Warrington.
LEBANON
Though not related to each other, champion Balmain hooker Ben Elias and rogue journeyman forward John Elias were both born in Lebanon within a month of each other in 1963 and both moved to Australia at an early age.
Ben Elias was born in Tripoli, before becoming a Tigers legend in 233 games from 1982-94, as well as playing 19 Origins for NSW and six Tests for Australia.
John Elias played with his namesake at Balmain from 1989-94, as well as having stints with Newtown, Souths (twice), Canterbury, Wests and Easts in a 136-game Sydney career, and winning a BRL premiership with Souths Magpies in 1985. His off-field exploits were even more colourful.
Hazem El Masri was born in Tripoli in 1976, emigrating to Sydney as an 11-year-old. The ex-soccer player would rack up a club record 317 games for the Bulldogs (including a premiership in 2004) and break the premiership’s pointscoring record with 2,418, including 159 tries.
El Masri played one Test for Australia (2002) and one Origin for NSW (2007), as well as regularly representing his native Lebanon.
MALTA
Born in Valletta in the South East Region of Malta, an archipelago in the central Mediterranean, Mario Fenech was one of the great personality players of the 1980s and ’90s.
The long-serving South Sydney captain played hooker for NSW in 1989 and had four memorable seasons with North Sydney before featuring in South Queensland Crushers’ 1995 debut season, racking up 275 first-grade games.
The fiery forward picked up the moniker ‘Falcon’, a nod to the famous 1941 film The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart. He became equally well-known as the perennial comedic fall guy on The Footy Show.
Fenech wasn’t the first Malta-born player in the premiership, however. Michael Pace was born in Senglea, Southern Harbour District and played 41 games in the forwards for Balmain from 1932-35.
UKRAINE
One of the great curiosities of modern rugby league, Ian Rubin was born in Odessa, now part of Ukraine, during the era of Soviet Union rule to a Jewish family. He emigrated to Australia during his teens and was spotted by South Sydney.
Hulking prop Rubin played 45 games for the Rabbitohs from 1996-99, while he lined up in the front-row in Sydney Roosters’ 2000 grand final loss to Brisbane before representing Russia (where his grandparents were from) in that year’s World Cup.
Rubin’s fascinating 84-game first-grade career came to an end in 2001.
CHILE
A hooker prop in 11 first-grade games for Western Suburbs from 1939-41, Alex Patrick was reputedly born in Los Ángeles, Bío Bío, Chile in 1914.
SOUTH AFRICA
Cape Town-born Dick Jarman played nine games for inaugural premier South Sydney in 1908 as a centre or winger, including the 14-12 win over Eastern Suburbs in the final.
The 1960s saw an influx of former Springbok rugby union reps to the Sydney competition, headlined by Fred Griffiths, Louis Neumann, Col Greenwood and Len Killeen.
More recently, Johannesburg-born forward Jarrod Saffy played for Wests Tigers (2006-07) and won a grand final in the last game of his three seasons with St George Illawarra in 2010, before joining Super Rugby outfit Melbourne Rebels.
ZIMBABWE
A one-gamer for Canterbury Bulldogs at the height of the Super League war in 1996, rugby union convert Andy Marinos arrived from South Africa. The outside-back was born in what was then known as Salisbury, Rhodesia – now Harare, Zimbabwe.
Marinos went on to represent Wales in rugby union and later served as CEO of SANZAAR and Rugby Australia.
TANZANIA
Twenty-two-year-old Marly Bitungane created history when he made his NRL debut off the bench for North Queensland last week, becoming the first Tanzanian-born player – and one of only a handful to be born in Africa – to appear in the premiership.
Bitugane’s family fled Tanzanian when Marly was a youngster, settling in the Logan region of Brisbane.
After some time in the Melbourne Storm system, he was snapped up by the Cowboys and has turned out for Townsville Blackhawks and Northern Pride in the Queensland Cup, gravitating from the wing to the front-row.
UNITED STATES
Charlie Peoples is believed to be the first US-born player to turn out in the premiership, making 16 appearances for fledgling University as a centre, winger or five-eighth in 1920-21.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Russian parents, Robert Grotte moved to New Zealand with his mother as a two-year-old and played for St George as a five-eighth in 1935. He later toured Australia with the Kiwis in 1938.
Other United States-born first-graders include:
Newtown gridiron cult hero of 1977 Manfred Moore (Martinez, California), infamous 1999 Newcastle one-gamer Greg Smith (DeRidder, Louisiana) and Joseph Vuna (Alameda County, California), who played for the Warriors (2018) and Titans (2021-23).
Knights stalwart, Storm grand final winner and Hull KR Panthers back-rower Clint Newton, son of famed golfer Jack, played 173 NRL and 100 Super League games from 2001-15. He represented USA at the 2013 World Cup and later became CEO of the RLPA.
AMERICAN SAMOA
Sydney Roosters brothers De La Salle and Xavier Va’a were born in Faga’alu American Samoa.
De La Salle had only just turned 19 when he came off the bench in the final round against Souths last season and has played one game in 2025, while 21-year-old Xavier made a tryscoring debut from the interchange against the Sharks in Round 12 this year
JAMAICA
Flamboyant winger Des Drummond played over 400 games in England – predominantly for Leigh, Warrington and Workington – and represented Great Britain in 24 Tests from 1980-88.
Born in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland in Jamaica, Drummond had a nine-game stint for Western Suburbs Magpies in 1986, scoring two tries.
NEW CALEDONIA
Born in the French colony of New Caledonia in 1894, winger Lorance Miranda played seven games during North Sydney’s 1918 campaign – with champion tryscorer Cec Blinkhorn on the other flank.
His son, Ray, played one game for Balmain in 1942 and grandson Wayne Miranda scored 541 points in 91 games for the Tigers from 1978-83.
HONG KONG
Of Filipino/Australian background, towering Newcastle Knights outside-back Kyle McCarthy was born in Hong Kong.
The Gerringong Lions junior debuted for the Knights in 2024 and scored his maiden NRL try against the Roosters in Round 15 this season, one of five 2025 appearances to date.
PHILIPPINES
Filipino-born Ben Gonzales is on Spanish Mestizo descent, emigrating to Australia from Quezon City in the Philippines.
The Penrith junior spent four fruitful seasons on the wing for the Panthers before becoming a Gold Coast-Tweed Giants foundation player and missing just one of the club’s games in their first two seasons.
By the time he finished up with the Seagulls in 1991, Gonzales had scored 34 tries in 134 first-grade games.
PAKISTAN
Few have made a longer trek to first-grade status than Warriors winger/fullback Omar Slaimankhel. Born in Kalu Khurd, Pakistan, to Afghan refugees, he was two years old when his family emigrated to New Zealand.
The Auckland Grammar 1st XV star scored a record 47 tries in 51 NYC games before making his NRL debut on the flank against Cronulla. He played five games before taking up a Japanese rugby union deal but returned to league in 2015 with Sydney Roosters, where he was restricted to NSW Cup duty.