Rugby league to have a crack at the US market

MichaelC. Notice you threw around a few names from the Indian/Pakistan sub continent,who play cricket for Canada. FYI a fellow by the name of Ikhram Butt a rugby league player from the UK (of Pakistani origin),is in the throes of getting rugby league played in Pakistan. I just hope the speccies don't have to wear protective vests watcjing a game.

The new USA competition is called the USNRL.The United States National RUGBY League.The dictionary defines rugby as having two codes: union and league.League is defined as group of sports' teams playing in a competition. QED it can also correct to call rugby league RUGBY. i just happen to call it the "best game on the planet" LOL. If i visit Europe and say I follow league.The response will be the premier league,the german league etc etc.?The theme song from the RWC is called the world in UNION. Until such time as there is a name change,call it what you will.

"We get it, you call league rugby" That's because it is rugby - as is union. Although only one discriminated against the other for 100 years on the basis that they were both rugby - and only one is now determined to hijack the word "rugby" for itself. Anybody in union who declares that rugby league isn't rugby is a gross hypocrite - anybody in rugby league who doesn't think that rugby league is rugby is guilty of sheer ignorance. The sooner the 2 codes face the fact that both are rugby and neither can claim sole ownership of the word "rugby" the better.

Max Lamberto - you really think so?? A curious little trophy from Canada........nah!!!!! Not a 'trophy' from Canada. A 2nd hand store curio perhaps, not a 'trophy'. (he IS an interesting story though, and perhaps will open the minds of some folk - along with the stunning progress of young Irish lad Quinn at Essendon to rack up 20 possessions in his first game in Rnd 2 in his first season). [reality, some people really ARE just 'naturals'.]

The Canadian rugby player is nothing more to the Swans and AFL than a publicity generating trophy prize.

jerrys right.. and football to us is soccer....

Geez, get over it Gort. We get it, you call league rugby. People where you live call league rugby. I doubt there's a more proud supporter than Russell Crowe, but fact is in most places where people know the difference they call union 'rugby' and league 'league'. It doesn't devalue league at all to call it league, it's just what most people call it.

"I remember when Russell Crowe was on the Dave Letterman Show , letterman asked him about his rugby team and russell had to correct him and say its a rugby league team, to which dave said, i dont know what that game is!! Many americans know about rugby but little know about rugby league." It's odd he felt the need to "correct" him - Souths are a rugby team.

Canadian rugby player looks like getting his start with the Swans next week..now I'm confused...

Guy Smiley. "it does not generate revenue" according to you.Then how does the English Super league function. They get substantial revenue from Sky.In fact it is because of that revenue they were able to expand into Wales and France by having a pro team in each country.Rugby league is in fact one of the fastest growing sports in London/England and Wales.In fact the viewing numbers of the ESL beat the club union comp on a regular basis.Rugby league in England received nearly as much in sport's grants from Sport England as ru for the next 3 years,so much for the minority rubbish. The next we will hear is the 2 states 2 counties rubbish usually thrown up. A minority sport,limited appeal? Better tell that to the Tongans/Fijians/Cook Islanders and Samoans,and it appears the growing numbers of NZedders disenchanted with s14 and the large Warrior's crowds. Memo:the US NRL is not trying to crack that market on an amateur basis,it is a fully pro basis,with funded franchises and TV coverage. Where do you get the idea it is going to be amateur? They wouldn't have bothered if it was amateur.Sheesh. Union is a sport with a huge revenue stream agreed ,yet despite this money ,still is only the national sport of NZ,Wales at intnls and even in Sth Africa soccer is the code of the majoriity.The problem with union in the States,that the game itself is too rule influenced as opposed to the simpler easier to follow version of rl.It is from what I have heard from yanks,more of a college social game with drinkees afterwards.The last RWC07 final had 97% of the viewers(33million),come from the 8 foundation countries,with about 100,000 coming from the rest of the world.And this is called massive worldwide and worldwide. The head of the AMNRL involved in getting the pro comp up is David Niu who funnily enough played rugby league with St George and played ru both in oz and ru /rl in the US. The whole concept as you described as being" flimsy',has been years in development involving exPats and locals,not developed by some last minute Luigi.That of course is no guarantee of success,but at least rl is doing something. BTW in finishing it is not how much money a game generates,but how it is wisely spent.Just ask the ARU and money wasted after the WC2003. Gee one can smell the fear,if this should turn out to be a success.

This is such a flimsy premise it's not funny. League is a minority sport in all the countries it is played bar one (plus maybe PNG?) and even in Australia it does not enjoy nationwide support. It does not generate revenue because of its incredibly limited appeal. To try and crack the US market on anything but an amateur, weekend club footy, basis is just plain foolish. The reasons listed above for is possible success are optimistic in the extreme. Union still has not successfully cracked the US and probably never will, a sport that enjoys a huge revenue stream compared to League.

True Tah, Reagan played Rockne's star player George Gipp, in the movie. Gipp died whilst still at college, hence the phrase "win one for the Gipper"

I'm sure there's a number of Aussie players just on the cusp who could see an opportunity to play in the States RL competition..just like English super league..better put the other 2 NRL teams in pretty quick Mr Gallop...

Answer - the play cricket for Canada. They are drawn from far and wide, and mostly born overseas, although, as in England, more and more of the 'exotic' of name players are born domestically. The grand nation of India with over a billion inhabitants is now in a phase of passively 'colonising' the world. Heck, there's an English fast bowler of Indian decent and born in Copenhagen. In 50 years time cricket may yet have reached a more global scale, even if every second nation is entirely represented by folk of Indian/Pakistani origins. So, there's always a chance that suddenly the critical mass for cricket in the US is reached. Then, for USfooty for example, doors may open!! Ovals may appear where once were dustbowls....

btw - what do all these folk have in common?? (there's a single hint in there) Rizwan Ahmed Cheema : Born August 15, 1978, Pakistan Ashish Bagai : Born January 26, 1982, Delhi, India Umar Bhatti : Born January 4, 1984, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan Sandeep Jyoti : Born December 14, 1973, Shimla, India Sunil Dhaniram : Born October 17, 1968, Port Mourant, Berbice, Guyana Wandavasi Dorakanti Balaji Rao : Born March 4, 1978, Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu Khurram Rasheed Chohan : Born February 22, 1980, Lahore, Punjab Henry Osinde : Born October 17, 1978, Uganda Abdool Mudassar Samad : Born May 3, 1979, Guyana Zubin Eruch Surkari : Born February 26, 1980, Toronto, Ontario Sanjayan Thuraisingam : Born September 11, 1969, Colombo Karun Jethi : Born December 19, 1983, Delhi, India Harvir Singh Baidwan : Born July 31, 1987, Chandigarh, India Eion Katchay : Born December 8, 1977, Georgetown, Guyana

Carl Unger - certainly - there's a heap of reasons why 'NOT' will prevail. Although, over there, the official body is 'USfooty', Heck - I'm not sure I'd want it to happen, as if the game DID take off, no doubt the Americans wouldn't stand for long for taking orders from lil' ol' Orh-ssee. (I reckon that's the reluctance on soccer and cricket etc, the Americans, perhaps rightly, don't like being subjugated. When you've got a domestic population of 330 million (or more), and 50 odd states - - the nation of the USA provides competition far above and beyond many international sports. Who blame them for not really caring beyond their borders. In some respects, I respect the US position. Build up the fortress and let the invaders cross the oceans to come to them and not vice versa. The obvious thing about soccer is that there's sufficient expat communities at one level (but, like the HAL in Australia, that's no domestic guarrantee), and the reality at junior 'football' level is that if the only other option is Grid Iron (or even a Rugby), then for protective parents, soccer has that market all to itself.

RedB Calling rl a dumbed down version of a tactical gridiron does not offend.The people first and foremost they are targetting are not gridiron players,but as explained current ru and rl players in the US amd other athletes and other youth who want a simpler faster game to learn.They could even draw from the Jamaican rl comp.They will possibly have a few NRL players and almost certainly Oz/English coaches in addition. It is the simplicity,speed and contact and the game's abiltity as a great TV product,that makes it appealing.Everywhere they have played trials or even SOO (on one occasion in the US),the reaction from the locals has been very positive.Franchise owners in these troubled times are not going to financially back US teams,if they think a new sport is not appealing. Americans are already taking up the game,another AMNRL team the Boston X111 have been added to that comp this year. Americans are indeed patriotic,but who would have thought that soccer((an "alien" sport) would have created such a niche in the US sporting landscape.

This one is up there with Mr Elliot taking Aussie Rules to Eastern Europe.

It's impressive progress to date and good luck to them if it gets up and running. I also question why Americans take to it they are, 1. the most patriotic towards al things American and 2. incredibly insular, why would they take up the game? Aussie Rules would have a similiar problem and does have a major problem with a lack of fields (with no cricket as a basis). The other thing about Girdiron are the strategies/plays employed in the game, rugby league would seem a very dumbed down version of it. (no offence) Redb

I also agrre about Aussie rules, just change the name to American rules and you have a winner. :)