If there is one question that those brave souls charged with promoting international rugby league are obsessed with, it is: "How many will show up?"

Officials of the fledgling Lebanese league were pondering that very issue around sunset in a touchline meeting on Saturday as the national side prepared to play France at the grandly named Olympic Stadium here near Beirut.

With Australians of Lebanese descent taking the game to their forefathers' homeland for the first time, forecasts of the attendance had ranged between 10,000 and a capacity 25,000.

The omens looked auspicious enough. The match was an official sporting event of the Francophone Conference, tanks guarded the main gates ("These days there's nothing else to use them for," an organiser said) and admission was free - but 10 minutes before scheduled kick-off there were barely 4,000 spectators inside.

Then came the news which brought an audible sigh of relief from those who had been trying to get players from teams such as Sydney Roosters, Bankstown Cougars and Bathurst Penguins back to Lebanon for six years: there were 2,000 outside and the kick-off would have to be delayed because only two gates were open. An organisers' dream - crowd congestion!

In the aftermath of Lebanon's victory, with 28 points scored by players with the surname El Masri or Farah, a crowd figure of 9,713 was posted. Whether or not that was the exact number it was certainly in the same ballpark as that registered for the Wales match in Cardiff 24 hours later.

At full-time the Lebanon team, inevitably dubbed the Cedars even though their tree-like qualities are not too apparent, climbed a 15ft perimeter fence opposite the official enclosure and saluted the chanting, flag-waving, flare-igniting home supporters in a scene reminiscent of the wild enthusiasm of Middle Eastern football crowds.

The closest thing Lebanon has to a national sport is basketball but their team is not about to threaten the game's superpowers. So the Cedars coach John Elias sees a chance for his imported game to unite a country so long riven by religion.

"Give us 10 years, and we can beat England or Great Britain," he said amid the post-match celebrations.