My American mate wants a Canberra Raiders jersey.
If someone had told me a couple of months ago that I’d have friends in the small American town I live in asking me about how they could get their hands on a Raiders jersey, about how the Penrith Panthers were able to create a dynasty with a father-son coach duo – “dude how is that even legal” – or telling me about how electric they found Tom Trbojevic and James Tedesco to be I would have called you insane.
And yet, here we are. I have even seen the stupid Russell Crowe NRL promotion that I laughed at be reposted on social media by kids who would’ve told you that Lindsay Collins sounded like the name of a popstar just a few months ago.
To be quite honest, I expected NRL Las Vegas to be a complete failure. America is over-saturated with professional sport, and I just could not see anyone I knew dropping basketball, American football, ice hockey, baseball, soccer, or whatever other sport had come to their attention in favour of a foreign game.
My presumption was that the game would be played, be watched by some Australians living in America, and that would be that. Luckily, that was not the case. The viewing numbers have been published, but I think my anecdotal evidence is just as strong.
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The simple fact that I, on a regular basis, see friends of mine watching NRL highlights is evidence enough that NRL Las Vegas has brought at least some people to the game.
Now, it is time for rugby league to make plans to capitalise on this early success. The first thing the NRL has to do here is build a grassroots structure. If they build it, players will come but right now there is simply nowhere to play.
Jacob Gagai scores a try at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Again, from anecdotal evidence, there is only one team within a reasonable distance for me and they make absolutely no effort to reach out and recruit, and also have no junior sides.
That being said, the first thing the NRL had to do was prove there was an appetite for league in the US, and while that is not 100 per cent confirmed, there is definitely reason to be confident.
Continuing the NRL Las Vegas will do wonders, but I also think holding NRL nines tournaments or international tests could do wonders, especially on the West Coast which has a decent Pasifika population.
From there, I think an intriguing idea could be to try and make a break into the collegiate athletic scene in America, where rugby union has had great success. Kids in university are willing to try new sports to find communities, and if rugby league can give them that, I can guarantee they will come. I know plenty of kids who have never touched a rugby ball in their lives who become fanatics in university. There is no reason the same cannot be done with league.
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
And the Lingerie Football, X League, something the NRL should consider
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
“The viewing numbers have been published” Which were…about 60k I believe. That’s a poor figure even in Australia! In a country of over 300m, it’s a rounding error.
GodragonsGo
Roar Rookie
Wow, thanks Phil Browne for your input.
Working Class Rugger
Roar Guru
Thing is. It's not just football that these guys often participate in. Many that don't go to Uni for Football go for Basketball (a lot of NBA were highly rated HS Football players as well), Ice Hockey, Wrestling, Track and Field, Lacrosse. Sports that all offer scholarships and paid playing opportunities post College to some degree. All tend to draw from the same well of athletes. The only way to do it is start from the ground up and be ready to wait it out for decades. Rugby has spent 50 years chipping away to the point now that many Universities have club teams (usually recognised by the University which comes with limited support around access to facilities) and is only now seeing the game begin to pick up momentum in terms of youth and HS participation. Even still it's a long way from breaking through.
Working Class Rugger
Roar Guru
Or one of the 8 or so Arena Football Leagues. There's also a bunch of semi- pro leagues across the country. Japan has a small pro league. As does Mexico and there's a renewed push on building a European based league as well. The introduction of NIL has also radically changed college sports particularly College football to the point where players can earn a decent living as far down as D3 in the States. Taking into account the redshirt (which is kind of a development year) players can play College football for up to 5 years. And then there's Rugby.
Ian
Roar Rookie
That’s absolutely the way forward. I know for a fact that many of the boys here who play union at high school, uni, and beyond came because they ran out of american football to play. Gridiron players who want to keep playing sport is definitely a demographic to target
Dionysus
Roar Rookie
You could design one so that it looked like Paul Gallen's head was coming out of your shorts. There are lots and lots of different designs that have been produced iver the years. Some great and some (like that PG one) that were not so great. I would like to see American fan's reaction to that one.
Brendon Waldron
Roar Pro
Also not taking into account the various indoor leagues...
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
So easy to be a cynic
Brett Allen
Roar Rookie
There’s the UFL, GDFL, RPFL, LFA, SLAF, FFL. They’re just the nationally organised leagues, most “football” states have a state wide leagues, especially Texas, California, Oklahoma, Florida, Louisiana, Kansas, Ohio, Georgia. There is any number of opportunities to play if you want to. That’s not taking into account flag football.
Brendon Waldron
Roar Pro
Surely we could at least come up with ways to integrate them better, these days it's like a white box with a picture in at slapped on top of a design. Design the stripes or the V or whatever jersey design to flow with the sponsor logo, instead of underneath it...
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
It is true for many of their sports. Why do you think we see so many movies about high-school champions? That's often as good as it gets for them. You cannot and do not play football, or baseball, for your suburb. If you don't play it through college you do not get drafted, if you don't get drafted you have so few options beyond going to the CFL in Canada or playing in one of only 8 teams in the newly created summer UFL. That's it, pretty much. There are semi-pro leagues scattered here and there but they still don't accommodate the hundreds who come of of college. The sports experience is better than here in high-school and University but after that it is not as broad. Your either in the equivalent of the NRL or AFL or you're not playing at all.
zonecadet
Roar Rookie
Oh for the days of Jerseys that were un-adorned with sponsor's logos.
Phil Browne
Roar Rookie
THATS HUGE!!!! Nearly 400 million living there and ONE person wants a jersey! NRL are definitely onto a winner here!!
SSTID
Roar Rookie
To add an alternative. I don't know if it is true or not, but I heard that the "pathway" to NFL is so well defined that many kids have no place or opportunity to play gridiron past a certain age. You are either in the system or you are not and if you are not - then there is not even an informal "park" league that you can play in once you are past high school age. Again, I heard this somewhere, so I don't know if that is true or not. If true, I think there would be a lot of young boys who don't make the NFL cut (i.e. get a college scholarship), but still like the physically of contact sport that they could be enticed into a even just an informal NRL satellite league with a small stipend as a way to build the game, even if it is just slow and steady.
Ian
Roar Rookie
Wore a Raiders jersey out once that had Canberra Milk as the sponsor and they all thought it was the funniest thing ever. Now one of my friends is trying to get one himself.
Brendon Waldron
Roar Pro
Interesring, for a while now I've thought that if you take away all the sponsors, the Raiders jersey is probably closest to the NFL style, being one main clour with some stripes on the sleeves so I'm not really surprised.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
This is the sort of feedback the NRL would desperately want to receive. It's fine to blow your own trumpet, but way more satisfying when others are doing it for you.
Beergardener
Roar Pro
To be fair,they have a pretty cool vintage looking logo and their colours are nice. Not a bad pick for a jersey (as a Broncos supporter)
andrew
Roar Rookie
Interesting article Ian. Is your mate a Las Vegas Raiders fan, that's the only reason I can think of for wanting a Raiders jersey.