I’ve been a hardcore American rugby league fan for four years now and the NRL needs to start leaving a footprint here in America.
I was fortunate enough to be able to fly all the way to the other side of the country to see the Denver Test and It was genuinely one of the best experiences of my life. Seeing all those players that I wake up at five in the morning to watch life was truly magical.
I even got a chance to meet Jared Waerea-Hargreaves after the game and he’ll now always be my favourite non-Manly player ever.
The reason I brought all of that up was because even though I’ve loved rugby league for four years now, seeing a professional game live and in person made me fall in love with the game all over again.
So imagine how many new fans the NRL could create if other people with no exposure to the game experienced the magic that I felt.
Todd Greenberg brings it up every year – the NRL are looking to bring a game to Los Angeles or somewhere else in America – but they never do.
Well now is the perfect time to do it with Valentine Holmes signing with the Jets. The NRL is getting its name out there with the one of the biggest sports leagues in the world in the NFL talking about Valentine Holmes’ background in the NRL.
The NRL also put up those Easts billboards up in my hometown, Atlanta, so that also helped put the word out.
The Denver Test also did fantastic in attendance numbers with over 19,000 people at the game. That’s 3,000 more than the average NRL attendance in 2018 of just over 16,000 fans.
So the games will sell tickets and it wouldn’t be a bad look for the game. Finally, the players would absolutely love the opportunity to expose a new audience to the game they love and have played all their lives.
All the NRL needs to do is bring one or two games a year to America and that would go a long way in expanding the NRL fandom all over America and the rest of the world.
Muchi
Guest
Stavros Check out Tingo Tangos rubbish above about Canadian Football evolving from Canadian RL which never existed till 2010. Some stuff here is unbelievably wrong but people believe it. How about the Canadian RL womens team at the RLWC that were rugby union players who were promised a free holiday trip to Oz in their late autumn. There was no Canadian RL womens comp
Muchi
Guest
Tingo From Wikipedia and other source "Rugby football in Canada originated in the early 1860s,[1] and over time, the game known as Canadian football developed. Both the Canadian Football League (CFL), the sport's top professional league, and Football Canada, the governing body for amateur play, trace their roots to 1880 and the founding of the Canadian Rugby Football Union"
Tingo Tango
Guest
Muchi, That is actually not true as there were sides in Halifax Novia Scotia that played. A Canadian school boy RL team toured England I believe in the 1950's. I have seen articles on the tour but would need to go back and try to source it properly. I have also read that RL then became Canadian Rugby that then evolved into Canadian Football.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
Its not called Rugby Union in all Australia just NSW & Qld. Rugby has changed a fair bit since 1860 afaik. I did say the English rugby league community as I am aware RL is only really played in Eastern Australia and Northern England and rugby is a big world game.
Tim Buck 3
Roar Rookie
I didn't see the spear tackles as I only saw it on TV but calling it "almost murder" is a bit much as Price wasn't knocked out or had his back broken. Mark Shulman never played again and Price should have been sent off and suspended but he got away with it as Cook and the TJs missed it. The refs knew they let Price get away with knees in the back and may have looked the other way when Price was receiving some attention. Mark Shulman's injuries were real as he never played again but Price's injuries were superficial.
Fix the scrums
Guest
Hmmmm! It seems you are correct Harold. I can't find a draw for the WARL either. Can't see anything on the NRLWA website. I think some people are overstating Perth's interest in the game.
Fred
Guest
9 years ago. They get average crowds of 2,500, and to matches that have included international teams they have got over 12,000 along. For a small city like Jacksonville, in a country where rugby league is "unknown" according to you, that's pretty good. Can you please cite your source for an u12 girls school soccer match in Jacksonville getting 2,000 crowds please? Thanks in advance.
Paul
Roar Guru
I was at that game where Reddy got away with almost murder, Peter. I've been a Dragons fan for 40 years and even I was cringing at the spear tackles and other play Reddy got away with. Cook copped it as you said, but Reddy wasn't the only bloke dishing it out, he was just way more open about it.
Stavros
Guest
The record 2000 crowd is all I got out of the page. They get 2000 for u12 girls school soccer over there
Fred
Guest
You could simply google 'Jacksonville Axemen crowd' for local Jacksonville press reports on crowds, but as you're determined to believe nobody in Jacksonville has been to a rugby league game, it would probably be a waste of time.
Maximus Insight
Guest
Which un-referenced attendance claim on that wiki page are you referring to? I think the only thing your link demonstrates is somebody has gone to a lot of effort in maintaining that wiki page
Fred
Guest
So the thousands of locals in Jacksonville who attended games, as cited in my link, were lost were they?
Fred
Guest
So?
westernred
Much of this due to the NRL undermining the event at every turn.
westernred
Good luck mate. The NRL are frightened of their own shadows whilst they cede populations to the afl.
Stavros
Guest
Fred you said winning local support. RL is unknown in the States
Stavros
Guest
Fred you are going on like there are lots of Rugby League cities in the World. I think you'll find this bloke linked to Mate Mcgladin the American bloke who aligns himself with none other than Messiah Mascord
Stavros
Guest
It was never going ahead. The Aussie bloke funding it realised how much of a waste of money the whole thing is and pulled the pin
Fred
Guest
A rugby league fan reads rugby league articles written by rugby league journalists based in the biggest rugby league city in the world. Wow, stop the press Stavvie, there's a conspiracy to report! Lol!
Muchi
Guest
Rugby has always been rugby since 1860's and its only Rugby Union in Aus, NZ maybe. The latecomer RL called its magazine Open Rugby in UK trying to cash in but ended up changing it ironically to Rugby league World when it only covered Northern Hemisphere RL. The Canadian RL talk about the tradition of Rugby going back to the 1920's in Canada when it was actually Rugby (Union) so there have been many cases of intellectual thievery from one side.