Sammo

‘Aiming’ and ‘will’ suggests none of this has happened yet? Cutting it fine…

Have seen Derby suggested a few times but don’t think it would work - there isn’t a suitable facility for a team attracting ~5k people. If I was looking at the East Midlands I’d go with Nottingham - Lady Bay would be ideal to start and could move up to the Notts County stadium if successful. I went to university in Norwich and think there suffers from the same issue - I don’t know of any facilities other than the Canaries ground

The press release clearly says they are permanently relocating back to England, so no return to Canada

What is your response to the person who has commented saying they are 5 years into setting up a real federation and your account is jeopardising that?

The NARLs broadcast deal was with SportsFlick who are now not operating…

But how do you account for differences in citizenship rules across countries? Taking extreme examples, you need to be resident in Lichtenstein for 30 years to get citizenship, whereas for Malta, Montenegro, Cyprus, you can buy it. All using citizenship does is creates an uneven playing field. I don’t mind how Union does it - birth, birth of parents, birth of grandparents, or 5 years residency. Maybe residency could be longer or you could drop grandparents, but concrete rules across all countries is better than citizenship IMO

What? The America’s Cup is called that because the first winner was a Yacht called America… in a race around the Isle of Wight. Nothing to do with the location if that is what you’re suggesting

Would Barry be close enough? There is Jenner Park which is a 6k capacity ground there

Yeah I was reading it as a fraction ie 4 out of 5, not 4 or 5

Sorry, maybe I’m being stupid but 4/5 what? I see 16 teams there…

It only mentions two, no? National Speedway Stadium and Manchester Regional Arena. What is the third?

I think you mean Puerto Rico…

You’re right, it’s probably semantics. I just don’t think the level of athlete between USARL and NARL has changed substantially. Delaware have been losing by a similar amount to other USARL teams regularly in past years for example

I’m talking exclusively about NARL, not denying that it happens in Super League or NRL. Also not denying that they are the guys that need to be signed, only saying that calling the NARL ‘union’ signings top athletes would be wrong

Agreed completely, but describing them as ‘top athletes’ is disingenuous - they aren’t. They are former semi-pro union players. There may be some good or very good athletes among them, but I don’t think you would describe even the standout MLR players as ‘top athletes’

Sorry, you’re wrong. The entire thing has been cancelled. https://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/2021/06/05/the-north-american-rugby-league-cancels-debut-season/

I’m not sure I would describe any of the Union players brought across as ‘top athletes’, mostly they have been MLR squad players at best, some of whom never even made a regular season appearance.

Not sure if you’ve heard, but NARL has been cancelled…

Looks like he coached Huddersfield Uni RL team as well, but I don’t think that amounts to a proven track record

Has anyone got a subscription to Mascord’s patreon to tell us roughly what’s being said? Hard to judge who to believe when you can’t read the article…

Do we know what the full board is? Would be interested to know how many North Americans there are on it

He’ll have seen what has happened to T-Rex and is trying to save his ar se

Has it been confirmed anywhere that Sale wouldn’t allow Salford to carry on as tenants if they did manage to buy the ground?

Hmm, fair point, I suppose it is a bit chicken and egg - how do you develop a fan base without people who know/play the sport, and how do you attract people to play the sport without the high level spectacle to engage them. I get the feeling that more sports go the grassroots->pro route than pro->grassroots. Are there any other sports that have successfully built a following in the same way that NARL is trying to?

Quote - ‘If you don’t pay them, you’ll get hardly anyone to training and the games aren’t as flash.’ Not a ringing endorsement for the growth of the game at the amateur/grassroots level...