USARL

[Damien]

1 hour ago, Yakstorm said:

Great to see a third LA club formed, though it does see the PCRL very heavily SoCal skewed with the Jackrabbits, Mongrels, Bandidos & San Diego Barracudas all within a few hours of each other.

Hopefully for the Santa Rosa Dead Pelicans, the rumours of the Sacramento Immortals & East Palo Alto Razorbacks joining the PCRL are true.

Clubs being relatively close together does have plenty of advantages though.

[Whippet13]

1 hour ago, Damien said:

Clubs being relatively close together does have plenty of advantages though.

800 mile round trip for the Pelicans, they really need some local opposition so hopefully the Immortals / Razorbacks rumour comes to fruition. Could happen as they don't currently play in another competition now the very dodgy Championship-RL organisation has disappeared. The NRL-Vegas event might give the prospects a boost.

[Yakstorm]

3 hours ago, Damien said:

Clubs being relatively close together does have plenty of advantages though.

For sure. Ideal scenario is if the other 2 teams join, the PCRL can then split the draw a little so the 3x LA & San Diego can be a pool, whilst Sacramento, Santa Rosa & Palo Alto is another. 

Keeps travel down for the clubs for most games (there can still be cross-pool matches), which helps ensure the competition remains sustainable.

Travel has been one of the factors that has hurt the growth of RL in the US in the past, so ideally any move to more small regional/city based competitions is better in the short term.

[JM2010]

What’s the make up of the USARL now? How many separate conferences are there? Is there still USARL North and South in the East?

[Whippet13]

20 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

What’s the make up of the USARL now? How many separate conferences are there? Is there still USARL North and South in the East?

The main USARL aligned competitions are PCRL (California and Utah) and South (Florida plus Atlanta). There is a North competition (NE really) which is independent but friendly with USARL - hopefully they will formally come on board with USARL at some point in the near future.

A regional approach to running and managing the game at club level has developed which is the sensible way to go given the distances involved. Perhaps that is one reason why all the infighting of previous years appears to have stopped. Much damage has clearly been done over the last few years, but I think there are signs of stability and growth.

Edited January 20 by Whippet13

[Damien]

On 20/01/2024 at 05:45, Yakstorm said:

Great to see a third LA club formed, though it does see the PCRL very heavily SoCal skewed with the Jackrabbits, Mongrels, Bandidos & San Diego Barracudas all within a few hours of each other.

Hopefully for the Santa Rosa Dead Pelicans, the rumours of the Sacramento Immortals & East Palo Alto Razorbacks joining the PCRL are true.

Well Sacramento are back so that's another club in the North!:

 

 

[Damien]

Sounds good. Hopefully this can help drive the game forward in the US:

The Constitutive Election for the new United States Association of Rugby League Board has returned an initial cohort of nine (9) Directors representing the game on both the west and east of the USA.

The Directors were elected by the USARL’s seven voting clubs and one voting league, and includes four new Board Members – Matt Goschnick, Chris Martin, George Tupou and Dustin Zerrer.

Goschnick, Martin, Tupou and Zerrer, along with Billy Nielson, Darren Piggins and Drew Slover, were elected as Directors nominated by the 11 member clubs and one member league.

Miranda Barnard was elected as the Director nominated from the female Individual Members, while David Abo was elected as the Director nominated from the male Individual Members.

Following the election of these nine Directors the new USARL Board will now:

elect an interim Chair from among the nine Directors

form a three strong nominations committee to recruit up to three independent Directors to join the Board.

https://www.intrl.sport/news/new-usarl-board-elected/

[Yakstorm]

For the first time in a long time there is representation from all the affiliated regions on the USARL board.

The last few splits have been because of either North/South divides or East/West divides.

Having a relative neutral, like Dustin, on there also positive. He has strong relationships with the likes of the RLU and some of the former NARL, AMNRL & CRL clubs, so might be able to encourage some to join/re-join the USARL.

[welshmagpie]

33 minutes ago, Yakstorm said:

For the first time in a long time there is representation from all the affiliated regions on the USARL board.

The last few splits have been because of either North/South divides or East/West divides.

Having a relative neutral, like Dustin, on there also positive. He has strong relationships with the likes of the RLU and some of the former NARL, AMNRL & CRL clubs, so might be able to encourage some to join/re-join the USARL.

Is he the guy who runs the podcast? Good bloke if so. 

[dealwithit]

Word on why only a handful of clubs are listed as full or affiliate members? Did the others not apply?

[Whippet13]

49 minutes ago, welshmagpie said:

Is he the guy who runs the podcast? Good bloke if so. 

Yes, and I believe he is a marketing consultant so some useful skills for the USARL. Hopefully him being part of the governing body won't affected the RLIA podcast, as he is always frank and informative on the state of the game over there.

[Gomersall]

8 hours ago, Yakstorm said:

For the first time in a long time there is representation from all the affiliated regions on the USARL board.

The last few splits have been because of either North/South divides or East/West divides.

Having a relative neutral, like Dustin, on there also positive. He has strong relationships with the likes of the RLU and some of the former NARL, AMNRL & CRL clubs, so might be able to encourage some to join/re-join the USARL.

Players from the URL are being selected for the Hawks so apart from not participating in the national play offs what else is a benefit of rejoining the USARL?

[Whippet13]

5 hours ago, Gomersall said:

Players from the URL are being selected for the Hawks so apart from not participating in the national play offs what else is a benefit of rejoining the USARL?

They can be a part of developing and participate in a strategy to grow the game overall in the US, that has to be beneficial for everyone long term. The sum is greater than the parts principle.

Edited January 27 by Whippet13

[Gomersall]

2 hours ago, Whippet13 said:

They can be a part of developing and participate in a strategy to grow the game overall in the US, that has to be beneficial for everyone long term. The sum is greater than the parts principle.

True but if all they want to do is get a team out on the pitch and play locally then why would they bother? I don’t see why their players should be allowed to play for the Hawks if the teams aren’t prepared to be affiliated to the USARL.

[Tex Evans Thigh]

16 minutes ago, Gomersall said:

True but if all they want to do is get a team out on the pitch and play locally then why would they bother? I don’t see why their players should be allowed to play for the Hawks if the teams aren’t prepared to be affiliated to the USARL.

The RLU teams will join as affiliates so will formally be part of it going forward. This will enable players to be selected for the national team without any hassle and the winner of the division being able to go into the national play-offs, so positive progress. The make-up of the board is also a lot more balanced now as others have pointed out so again more good progress. The game over here is coming along nicely after the horrible NARL debacle.

[Yakstorm]

On 27/01/2024 at 09:44, welshmagpie said:

Is he the guy who runs the podcast? Good bloke if so. 

Yeap he is

[Yakstorm]

South Florida Speed have said in their Instagram story today that

"Rugby League in South Florida will definitely make a return"

Hopefully that means the club is returning to the USARL this year.

[Gomersall]

 

[Yakstorm]

Great to see the Razorbacks back.  That gives a nice 4 / 3 split between North & South California, which gives the PCRL more options around the draw.

The 2024 USA Women's National Championship now has 7 teams, with East Palo Alto, Santa Rosa, San Diego & LA in the West, and Jacksonville, Tampa and the Carolina based Valkyrie in the east

[Gomersall]

 

[Yakstorm]

Couple of new clubs have popped up.  

In the south-east, we have the Miami Shoremen, who look like they'll join the USARL competition.  With the Shoremen and the South Florida Speed attempting to return, we could have 6 teams the the SE Conference (Jacksonville Axemen, Tampa Mayhem, Atlanta Rhinos & South West Florida Copperheads are the teams returning).

Meanwhile in the mid-west (not sure where exactly) a new Women's club has been formed, the the Midwest Rouge Runners.  The new club will play the Ontario Ospreys at York University in Toronto on April 20.

[Yakstorm]

Herriman Rabbitahz have announced their intention to take part in the 2024 Utah Rugby League Men's competition. 

The team is associated with the Rabbitahz club that has been participating in the Utah Junior League. 

https://utahrla.com/rabbitahz-intent/

The side will be the second team based out of Herriman, with the Herriman Roosters participating last year & also being part of the recent Vegas 9s.

[Gomersall]

https://utahrla.com/rabbitahz-intent/

[fighting irish]

3 hours ago, Gomersall said:

https://utahrla.com/rabbitahz-intent/

Great! 

[Gomersall]

35 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

Great! 

Except for the naff name!