Sir John Kaputin, pioneer who laid the platform for historic hunters win

Sir John Kaputin, the elderly gentleman in front of me in isle 340 and row 13 was not jumping around wildly like so many other delirious PNG fans — many of whom had travelled from Port Moresby to Brisbane hoping their rugby league warriors could win Queensland’s Intrust Super Cup grand final.

Minutes after PNG snatched a dramatic 12-10 upset, Sir John Kaputin was fighting back tears of joy as the Hunters recorded one of their most significant rugby league victories.

John Kaputin a trailblazer

Kaputin was a rugby league trailblazer and pioneer in PNG in 1960.

A talented young schoolboy athlete, he was his school’s long jump, 100 yard, 220 yard, and 440 yard champion, as well as being a talented swimmer, cricketer, and rugby league player.

When he left school he broke down racial barriers playing rugby league as the first PNG national to play (Kone Tigers) in an all-white competition in Port Moresby.

His courage to continue playing while being racially taunted opened the door for other coloured PNG nationals to play rugby league.

Kaputin was once quoted as saying the things people said about him in the crowd hurt him far more than any physical contact he copped playing the game.

Despite all the drama, he crossed the line 20 times in his debut season to be the competition’s leading try scorer at 19 years of age.

Kaputin could have played a number of sports.

He represented PNG as a sprinter at the 1962 Commonwealth Games and was knighted in 1997 for services to the government and community.

He was PNG’s foreign minister from the early to mid-1990s and was one of the first athletes inducted into Papua New Guinea’s sporting Hall of Fame.

A distinguished record

Given his distinguished CV — which included 30 years in parliament — you would have expected him to watch the grand final from the comfort of one of Suncorp Stadium’s air conditioned suites.

But more than 50 years after emerging as a young star on the wing for the Kone club, he sat among PNG fans out in the stands.

An article published in a PNG newspaper in 1960 described the young Kaputin this way: “a superb athlete with a good head on his shoulders who can run like the wind.”

“I scored 20 tries in my first season,” he said with the victorious PNG players celebrating their historic win on the field behind him.

“He was the Reg Gasnier of PNG rugby league,” declared his travelling companion, a teacher and academic with a PhD.

Sir John, now 76, said he was “very happy” the Hunters had won the grand final.

“I hope PNG can continue to improve its technique and physicality and in time get even better,” he said.

Did he think PNG could be playing in the NRL in five or 10 years?

“I hope, I hope,” he said with a beaming winner’s smile.”