Mark Mexico (born 21 May 1989) is a Papua New Guinean professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who last played for the

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They play home games at the Olympic Legacy Park and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. Sheffield's on ...

in the

Kingstone Press Championship The Rugby Football League Championship, (known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second highest division of rugby league in Britain (with one team in the league also being based in France) after the Super League. Intr ...

as a forward.

Playing career

Early career

Born in

Lae, Papua New Guinea Lae (, , later ) is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River on the northern coast of Huon Gulf. It is at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is the ...

, Mexico played his junior football for Lae school Boys(Bungandi secondary school), local team Kamkumung Crushers before joining Intercity team the Lae Bombers, Enga Mioks, Master Mark City Rangers, Snax Tigers and Rabaul Gurias in the

Papua New Guinea National Rugby League The Papua New Guinea National Rugby League Competition (or the PNGNRL for short, for sponsorship reasons the PNGNRL Digicel-ExxonMobil Cup) is a semi-professional rugby league competition held annually in Papua New Guinea. Changes in sponsorship ...

. In 2013, Mexico had a short stint with

Redcliffe Dolphins Redcliffe Dolphins are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Redcliffe, Queensland, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1947, they were accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League premiership (rugby league competition), Brisbane R ...

in the Instrust Supper Cup. Afterwards, in 2014 Mexico joined the

Papua New Guinea Hunters The Papua New Guinea Hunters (also referred to as PNG Hunters) are a professional rugby league football club based in Papua New Guinea. They were formed in December 2013 and compete in the Queensland Cup, a second tier competition in Australia. ...

for their inaugural season in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

New South Wales Cup

In April 2014, after being strongly linked with the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League sea ...

, Mexico signed a 1-year contract with the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

effective immediately.

Newcastle Thunder

In 2015, Mexico made the switch to

Newcastle Thunder The Newcastle Thunder is a professional rugby league club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was founded in 2000 as Gateshead Thunder, after the merger of the original Gateshead Thunder into Hull F.C. in 1999. The Thunder were based in ...

in the English League 1.

Sheffield Eagles

After playing a total of 17 games, scoring twice, the Papua New Guinean went on to sign a two-year contract with

in the league above. Mexico is very popular with the Eagles fans and is currently in the second year of the two, with more than 50 games played and 7 tries under his belt. In the 2017

Championship Shield The Rugby League Super 8s are a feature of the British rugby league system. Between 2015 and 2018 they were played in the top three professional divisions. Following the completion of the regular season home-and-away fixtures in the Super Leagu ...

, Mexico was ruled out of an away game in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at Toulouse XIII because of a 'passport irregularity'. In November 2017 it was announced that Mexico would not be signing a renewed contract with the Eagles for the 2018 season.

Representative career

In 2005, Mexico played for the PNGRFL Junior Kumuls, School Boys Rugby League World Cup in Moscow at under-16 level. Two years later, Mexico played for the PNGRFL Resident Kumuls against Cairns Northern Pride and then Test Match against Toa Samoa. The next year, Mexico was selected to train in the squad for the PNGRFL Kumuls, in preparation for the

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by senior men's national teams who each represent member nations of the International Rugby League who run and administer the tournament. The tournament has be ...

in Australia. In 2010, Mexico was selected to train with the PNGRFL Kumuls squad for the Four Nations, again in Australia. Having played a year for the Emerging Kumuls, in 2012 Mexico played for the PNGRFL Kumuls against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

. He also played for the PNGRFL Prime Ministers XIII against the Australia Prime Minister's XIII. He played in this game in 2014 as well. In 2013, Mexico played for the PNGRFL Residents Kumuls against the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

. He also played for the PNGRFL Prime Minister's XIII against the Australia Prime Minister's XIII. In October 2013, Mexico was selected in the

Papua New Guinean Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

squad for the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth World Cup for men’s national rugby league teams. It took place between the 26 October and 30 November and was hosted by England and Wales (although some games were played in France and Ire ...

, this time in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Mexico was noted for his hard and aggressive style of play in his three games during this World Cup, but made no contribution to the scoring in any of the games.

References

External links

Sheffield Eagles profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mexico, Mark 1989 births Living people 21st-century Papua New Guinean sportsmen Lae Bombers players Newcastle Thunder players Papua New Guinea Hunters players Papua New Guinea national rugby league team players Papua New Guinean rugby league players Papua New Guinean sportsmen PNG Prime Minister's XIII players Rugby league players from Morobe Province Rugby league props Sheffield Eagles players