They may be rivals on the field, but off the field The Gold Coast Titans and Parramatta Eels have joined forces to raise funds for Tonga following their devastating volcano eruption earlier in the year.
The sides are holding an online auction, selling the game-worn jerseys of Tongan players from each team from Saturday night's round 5 clash.
Not only are there four player-worn jerseys up for sale, but the match ball personally signed by both sides is one of the popular items being sold.
All funds raised will be donated to the NRL's Tongan Relief Fund, assisting the thousands of homes and businesses in Tonga that have been affected. The funds will also help to strengthen the preparedness for Tonga in future natural disasters.
NRL Game Development Manager for Tonga, Tavake Fangupo, has said that Tonga is still recovering from the widespread damage across the nation.
“There were 2,000 homes totally damaged or wiped out,” Fangupo said.
“People had been doing whatever they can to help each other but there is still a long way to go before we get back to normal.
“There are three main districts here on the main island and one-and-a-half districts are completely effected. We have three outer islands and two of the three are really affected so it is more than 50 per cent of Tonga.
“The main water supply here that people drink is from water tanks in homes and a lot of roofs of houses have been damaged, so people are having to replace water tanks and particularly gutters.
“Power is on and off because a lot of the transformers have got volcanic ash, so they are constantly having to turn power off to clean it. Also, a lot of power lines and wiring having been damaged.
“It is obviously a big year this year with the Rugby League World Cup and Tonga is one of those places where sport always energise the country, and particularly the rugby league team, so we will do whatever we can to put smiles back on people’s faces,” he said.
The online auction will be live on the Titans website for a week, concluding on Saturday April 16.
