USA Hawks

[Greg]

What on earth has happened to the US national team?! After a fantastic World Cup debut in 2013 where they reached the quarter-final vs Australia (a game I had a ticket for but didn't see due to getting stuck in traffic queueing for a Steam Fair!), they followed this up with a dismal showing in 2017 and now failure to qualify for the next tournament. On top of this, they lost the rights to host the 2025 competition and are now 18th in the World Rankings. Where has it all gone wrong?

[welshmagpie]

After the 2013 World Cup they changed their selection stance opting to pick more domestic products to show the reward for performing in the USARL.

Undortunately, though many feel this a positive move, it’s allowed Jamaica to overtake them with their strength and depth in UK based heritage players thus making the USA’s route to World Cup finals much harder.

They released a statement a few weeks back saying they’re going to have a bit of a review. 

[Eddie]

Plus they had to play a load of Aussies in their final World Cup qualifier and never really stood a chance. Hopefully if NY get off the ground it will provide a boost to the Hawks. 

[roughyedspud]

Still not got a USA hawks Jersey for coming up with the hawks nickname..

[Southerner80]

14 hours ago, Eddie said:

Plus they had to play a load of Aussies in their final World Cup qualifier and never really stood a chance. Hopefully if NY get off the ground it will provide a boost to the Hawks.

 

While I know the WC needs strong teams to be competitive and the Cooks clearly have some very good players, it Dosent help the World Cup to not have the States there. It would be good for the Americas to get 2 automatic spots imo. 

[Click]

3 hours ago, Southerner80 said:

 

While I know the WC needs strong teams to be competitive and the Cooks clearly have some very good players, it Dosent help the World Cup to not have the States there. It would be good for the Americas to get 2 automatic spots imo. 

It doesn't hurt the WC not having the States there either. RL is completely absent in the USA.

Magically pushing them into a WC where they get big scorelines put on them isn't going to grow the game back home.

[Greg]

20 hours ago, roughyedspud said:

Still not got a USA hawks Jersey for coming up with the hawks nickname..

Yes, the Tomahawks was a great name and things haven't been the same for the team since it changed. The 2013 World Cup jerseys were fantastic! What most concerned me from watching the WC qualifier against the Cook Islands was both the physical condition of the US players and the embarrassing shortage of spectators. It looked as though nobody really cares for the sport in the US anymore and they were merely just fulfilling the fixture and that's a real shame

[Beavers left nut]

They have gone backwards since the USARL took over. Although, from what I’ve read, David Nui wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea he was actively expanding rugby league year on year. There were clubs popping up everywhere when he was in charge and seemed to have a lot of ambition in terms of growing the game. The current board don’t seem as proactive.  In terms of participating clubs there were probably more 10 years ago then what there is now. 

[Heritage XIII]

51 minutes ago, Beavers left nut said:

They have gone backwards since the USARL took over. Although, from what I’ve read, David Nui wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea he was actively expanding rugby league year on year. There were clubs popping up everywhere when he was in charge and seemed to have a lot of ambition in terms of growing the game. The current board don’t seem as proactive.  In terms of participating clubs there were probably more 10 years ago then what there is now. 

Clubs were popping up & then disappearing in the AMNRL, it was quite unstable & when the clubs took control they saw the writing on the wall.

I think the USARL were right to go with mostly domestic players with a few heritage in the mix as should all countries qualifying for the RLWC. Their standing now is probably more in line with it being a majority domestic squad. They had to battle against teams mostly heritage & I think with Jamaica & Cooks having quite stable domestic comps, results would have been much different if they were forced to play majority domestic.

 

 

 

 

[Pulga]

23 hours ago, roughyedspud said:

Still not got a USA hawks Jersey for coming up with the hawks nickname..

So you're to blame. "Hawks" is such a bad name for the USA team. Their Union team is the "Eagles" so the Hawks seem like a B team or development squad. Absolutely up there with the worst name in the international game.

I remember the Facebook poll. I was late to nominating but put forward "USA Bison".

Everyone seemed to love it and I received many likes but I was late to the party.

Bison are such iconic, strong American animals. But they picked some weak bird.

[Pulga]

There are some pretty awful whispers coming out of the USA. It's not looking good.

[Kayakman]

3 hours ago, Greg said:

Yes, the Tomahawks was a great name and things haven't been the same for the team since it changed. The 2013 World Cup jerseys were fantastic! What most concerned me from watching the WC qualifier against the Cook Islands was both the physical condition of the US players and the embarrassing shortage of spectators. It looked as though nobody really cares for the sport in the US anymore and they were merely just fulfilling the fixture and that's a real shame

They need a pro team ASAP.   Hopefully everything in NY goes well.

[Number 16]

5 hours ago, Pulga said:

There are some pretty awful whispers coming out of the USA. It's not looking good.

Don't leave us hanging...

[Pulga]

4 hours ago, Number 16 said:

Don't leave us hanging...

I don't want to speak out of place.

But you can see the USARL is stagnant. Teams just shuffle around. No sign of any junior development work. The guy who was heading the women's game has stood down.

There's a reason why the new California RL isn't exactly associated with them.

It's a game played by union players in their off season and they don't seem to have any desire to change that whereas Jamaica are now the main rugby in town and Canada looks to be at least trying to do the same.

[Greg]

The US needs to be qualifying for World Cups in order to grow the game there. A successful national team is what inspires youngsters to take up a sport. If this means using mainly heritage players in the short-term then that's what should be done. I think that this is what they need to return to.

[Pulga]

24 minutes ago, Greg said:

The US needs to be qualifying for World Cups in order to grow the game there. A successful national team is what inspires youngsters to take up a sport. If this means using mainly heritage players in the short-term then that's what should be done. I think that this is what they need to return to.

They have qualified for the last 3 Wold Cups. 11 years have passed and it hasn't worked.

[Themusician_2]

AMNRL>USARL change my mind

[Themusician_2]

11 hours ago, Pulga said:

I don't want to speak out of place.

But you can see the USARL is stagnant. Teams just shuffle around. No sign of any junior development work. The guy who was heading the women's game has stood down.

There's a reason why the new California RL isn't exactly associated with them.

It's a game played by union players in their off season and they don't seem to have any desire to change that whereas Jamaica are now the main rugby in town and Canada looks to be at least trying to do the same.

I heard California RL say that they must play the RL at the same time as the RU. I said the same thing but I was told that the game would have to start from scratch by the Chicago stockyards account on this forum. I like California RL they are a real breath fresh air. They know our game can take union head on. I think in 10 years time they'll outgrow the USARL also having womens and youth.

[saintspete83]

On 28/11/2019 at 15:55, Click said:

It doesn't hurt the WC not having the States there either. RL is completely absent in the USA.

Magically pushing them into a WC where they get big scorelines put on them isn't going to grow the game back home.

The same as Scotland and Ireland. 

[TIWIT]

This is North America my friends. A new sport grows from the top down here, not from a bunch of bureaucrats trying to start something and make it grow from the bottom up.

A successful team in New York will do more for the game than anything that's been tried before.

[TIWIT]

1 hour ago, SL17 said:

Of course that is your sole opinion,, not fact.

Proven fact. The success of MLS. NHL teams in southern markets. Even the Toronto Raptors. Put a pro team in a city and in a generation that market will start producing top-flight professionals.

That is how it is done in North America and all your stubborn denials cannot change that.

[Chamey]

57 minutes ago, TIWIT said:

Proven fact. The success of MLS. NHL teams in southern markets. Even the Toronto Raptors. Put a pro team in a city and in a generation that market will start producing top-flight professionals.

That is how it is done in North America and all your stubborn denials cannot change that.

Isn't MLS a great example of pro competitions growing out of a massive player/community base? Soccer is definitely historically bottom down in the US.

 

You also need to invest resources/have a high profile team for talent to start being produced, TWP aren't there yet, and New Jersey PE teacher RL never will.

[kiwis 13 6]

It seems like a tough job running and organizing rugby league in the USA. When its a niche minority sport in the USA and there are vast distances involved. Im happy and amazed they actually play rugby league in the USA. But I have always wondered why the game is not played in California/West Coast as there is a large Pacific Island population and has more connections to Australia, NZ and the Pacific. 

[TIWIT]

7 minutes ago, Chamey said:

Isn't MLS a great example of pro competitions growing out of a massive player/community base? Soccer is definitely historically bottom down in the US.

 

You also need to invest resources/have a high profile team for talent to start being produced, TWP aren't there yet, and New Jersey PE teacher RL never will.

Soccer was always seen as a kid"s game. There were no professional teams for kids to aspire to and none of the previous pro leagues lasted long enough or cared enough to invest in youth development.

The MLS did. They had a pro team at the top of the pyramid and took advantage of the existing local soccer infrastructure to expand and reinforce interest in the game so that it eventually began to produce professional-calibre players in sufficient numbers to allow the game to continue to expand into new areas and start the process there.

But without the pro team at the top it would not work.

[Getmefood]

On 28/11/2019 at 06:51, Greg said:

What on earth has happened to the US national team?! After a fantastic World Cup debut in 2013 where they reached the quarter-final vs Australia (a game I had a ticket for but didn't see due to getting stuck in traffic queueing for a Steam Fair!), they followed this up with a dismal showing in 2017 and now failure to qualify for the next tournament. On top of this, they lost the rights to host the 2025 competition and are now 18th in the World Rankings. Where has it all gone wrong?

2013 seems like a distant memory now. I remember Joseph Paulo (now at St Helens) really standing out & some of the Hawaiian based players. Niu had the Tomahawks looking promising back then even though the domestic teams weren't really committed to the AMNRL, you can't really expect much from an amateur organisation anyway. California looks like it could be the new heartland for RL in the States & the New York bid will no doubt assist the sport to grow.