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Countries you’d like to see playing RL


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Which countries would you:-

A. Like to see playing RL

B. Are a perfect/natural fit for playing RL

I’m ruling out the obvious and easiest choice which would be the USA with  its incredible economic might, cultural influence, huge population and long history of producing some of the greatest athletes/sportsmen that ever played sports only because it’s a lazy choice and unfortunately highly unrealistic unless you have billions of dollars to invest and some celebrity pulling power like football(soccer).

My choice/choices would be Cuba and brazil. 
 

Cuba has a decent sized population of over 11 million people and it also has an amazing sporting culture and history most notably with boxing and the Olympics. It’s also a country in which a small amount of investment has the potential to go far compared to a rich industrialized western country.

Brazil has incredible potential imo for RL as again it has an incredible sporting culture and history and is the region’s economic powerhouse with a huge population and although it’s a huge country in terms of landmass it has large populated cities which could be targeted with investment which again goes further than North America and Europe.

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Brazil are already taking their first steps in the game.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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4 minutes ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Fantastic. I know brazil recently played the Philippines in Sydney but I’m guessing those teams were mostly heritage players?

They're playing RL in South America, as well as the Latin Heat and other ex-pat setups. All at a very early stage, but everyone has to start somewhere.

The opening match of this year's Women's RWC will be between England & Brazil at Headingley, on the 9th of November.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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1 minute ago, Futtocks said:

They're playing RL in South America, as well as the Latin Heat and other ex-pat setups. All at a very early stage, but everyone has to start somewhere.

The opening match of this year's Women's RWC will be between England & Brazil at Headingley, on the 9th of November.

Central America also. The Latin heat guys and the other ex-pats are real unsung heroes.

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https://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/2020/11/12/growing-the-great-game-of-rugby-league-in-latin-america/

"The IRL world rankings have not been updated for some time, but the most recent rankings for men’s teams had Chile at #32, the highest ranked country in South and Central America. Colombia was next best at #40 and Brazil checked in at #41.

Chile and Brazil are affiliate members of the IRL, Colombia has observer status.

Argentina is unranked and its IRL membership is pending, while fellow South American nations Peru and Uruguay have seen varying degrees of fledgling rugby league start-ups in recent years.

And it is a very similar story in Central American countries such as Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador."

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, there are massive communities of people with these nations' heritage all across the UK, but especially across the RL heartlands.

What a fantastic opportunity it would be to engage with these communities.

Same can also go for Poland, Bosnia, Kosovo etc.

In German football there are hundreds of "ethnic clubs" all representing various ethnicities all around the country, there's a few springing up in the UK too now, FC Romania, Sporting Khalsa etc, imagine having rugby league clubs representing different heritage/immigrant groups.

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1 minute ago, meast said:

Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, there are massive communities of people with these nations' heritage all across the UK, but especially across the RL heartlands.

What a fantastic opportunity it would be to engage with these communities.

Same can also go for Poland, Bosnia, Kosovo etc.

In German football there are hundreds of "ethnic clubs" all representing various ethnicities all around the country, there's a few springing up in the UK too now, FC Romania, Sporting Khalsa etc, imagine having rugby league clubs representing different heritage/immigrant groups.

Sweden has Balkan football clubs in Malmö. 

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13 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

https://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/2020/11/12/growing-the-great-game-of-rugby-league-in-latin-america/

"The IRL world rankings have not been updated for some time, but the most recent rankings for men’s teams had Chile at #32, the highest ranked country in South and Central America. Colombia was next best at #40 and Brazil checked in at #41.

Chile and Brazil are affiliate members of the IRL, Colombia has observer status.

Argentina is unranked and its IRL membership is pending, while fellow South American nations Peru and Uruguay have seen varying degrees of fledgling rugby league start-ups in recent years.

And it is a very similar story in Central American countries such as Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Ecuador."

Central and South America has so much potential and is a huge untapped market.

 

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Good question Mac, I`d have to plump for Turkey, 85 million people, 20th biggest economy in the world or 11th on a per capita basis, not ideally situated as far as tapping into existing professional competitions but alternately well-placed between the Balkan Leagues and Lebanon to make for handy rivalries. But I do especially like the 85 million population though.

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I'd love to see the Eastern European countries playing it. They live their combative sports, mma, boxing etc. The legendary Polish strongman Mariusz Pudzianovski used to play rugby albeit union in the Poznan region of the country I believe. 

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15 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

Good question Mac, I`d have to plump for Turkey, 85 million people, 20th biggest economy in the world or 11th on a per capita basis, not ideally situated as far as tapping into existing professional competitions but alternately well-placed between the Balkan Leagues and Lebanon to make for handy rivalries. But I do especially like the 85 million population though.

Emre Guler future captain of turkey 😉

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14 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

I'd love to see it played everywhere.  A truly global sport. But I know that's unrealistic.

However, can you imagine the sort of team Germany might produce if they had properly taken to the sport?

I agree. Makes you wonder why rugby union never really targeted Germany like they did with Italy?

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2 minutes ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

I agree. Makes you wonder why rugby union never really targeted Germany like they did with Italy?

My history be out here. But wasn't rugby league first played in treviso in the 50s but due to lack of support failed and the clubs turned to union? Or have I got that wrong?

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9 minutes ago, moorside roughyed said:

I'd love to see the Eastern European countries playing it. They live their combative sports, mma, boxing etc. The legendary Polish strongman Mariusz Pudzianovski used to play rugby albeit union in the Poznan region of the country I believe. 

This may not be politically correct to say but I don’t really do political correctness or identity politics but Slavic countries still place a high emphasis on strength and alpha male tendencies in society and there’s no better way to show this off than through sports like boxing, MMA and wrestling etc.

RL and Slavic culture you’d imagine would fit hand in glove.

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3 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

Treviso is in Italy owned by the Bennerton family and is part of a fantastic sporting complex.

 

Paul

That’s the kind of backing that RL would need to really breakthrough in countries like Italy, Germany and the Netherlands etc.

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2 minutes ago, Wanderer said:

Always think Japan was a missed opportunity as it seems Union now has a firm stranglehold on rugby there. I think the style of game they play and physique of the Japanese was always more suited to League

Indeed. Like Argentina RL in Japan would always be behind the 8ball unfortunately.

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10 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

100% I would like to see Rugby League flourish in all the Eastern European countries.

We should be giving 100% support to Russia/Ukraine/Serbia as the main 3 RL nations followed by ALL OTHER Eastern European nations.

 

Paul

Could you imagine the rivalry between Russia and Ukraine or Serbia and Kosovo?

Would make the “Ashes” rivalry look like a village fete.

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