Western League (Japanese baseball) Western League (Japanese baseball) The is one of the two minor leagues ("ni-gun") of Japanese professional baseball. The league is owned and managed by the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Teams in the Western League generally play an 80-game schedule every year. The league was created in 1952 as the Kansai Farm League, and was initially completely separate from the workings of the Nippon Professional Baseball. It featured the minor league teams of the six professional teams that had their homefields in the western region of Japan, as well one independent team not affiliated with an NPB franchise.
Sport in the Cook Islands longer available. The greatest event in the history of Cook Islands rugby league – and probably Cook Islands sport more generally – was the victory in the 1995 Emerging Nations Rugby League World Cup, held in the United Kingdom. Cook Islands emerged victorious 22-6 over Ireland in the Final held at Gigg Lane, Bury, on 24 October 1995. In more recent times, the Cook Islands national rugby league team has received a major boost through the involvement of former professional rugby league players Kevin Iro and Matt Rua (both native Cook Islanders), in the form of selector and defensive coach