NRL Under Fire for not working with rugby league clubs in the USA

[Bradman Better]

3 hours ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Isn't there like 7 different USA rugby league federations?

Rubbish. There are 28 and counting.

[fighting irish]

58 minutes ago, Bradman Better said:

Rubbish. There are 28 and counting.

I'm not trying to be confrontational but this response is intriguing.

Can you list the 28? Or give me/us more information about the organisations your refer to?

I'm very interested in the development of RL in the United States. 

[Big Picture]

There seems to be a common misunderstanding here of the role of professional sports leagues.

Their role is run their league and ensure that it's profitable and sustainable, not to develop their particular sport at lower levels.  The latter is the responsibility of national governing bodies, the USARL in this case.

Thus the NRL focusing on other goals is perfectly understandable.  That said, they seem not to understand how small and insignificant RU is in North America; if they did, they'd know that getting US RU players to switch won't help them acquire an audience there.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Big Picture

[DoubleD]

3 hours ago, NRLandSL said:

It very well might spark some interest but you have to question, are many of the people who garner an interest  in rugby from this going to begin following league?

If an American wanted to play or watch rugby there only option would be union. I can’t see how anyone would stay interested in a sport that is barely alive in your country. 
 

Some people may think rugby league is cool at first but when they release it barely exists in America they will just flock to union. This won’t do anything for the sport in the long term.

Bloody hell even in a interview in a NFL half time show they were calling it rugby.

I'm pretty sure that's what the 'R' stands for in NRL.............

[Lowdesert]

12 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

I'm pretty sure that's what the 'R' stands for in NRL.............

Well, fancy that.

Laughter aside, it’s going to be interesting to how these games generate development interest as well as future income streams.  V’Landys seems to think they are on the cusp of generating something big.

Not sure if the Wire v Wigan game in circa 1989 was for league points? or whether the Eng v NZ game was for WC standings points but these NRL games are, so we should see fully committed teams.

[RigbyLuger]

Outside of nations where both are played, would you expect the general public to know there are more than one form of "rugby" played? This is not like when the UK media , who do know, don't differentiate.

[unapologetic pedant]

51 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

I'm pretty sure that's what the 'R' stands for in NRL.............

I've revealed this amazing fact to several Aussie and Kiwi posters on L.U. The sort who use infuriating phrases like "Rugby and League". Complete waste of time. They seem convinced the NRL is the NLL.

[NRLandSL]

2 hours ago, DoubleD said:

I'm pretty sure that's what the 'R' stands for in NRL.............

In a country we’re 99% percent of people wouldn’t know the difference between League and Union, it’s pretty important they label which type of rugby it is.

Edited December 19, 2023 by NRLandSL

[Click]

2 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

In a country we’re 99% percent of people wouldn’t the difference between League and Union, it’s pretty important they label which type of rugby it is.

Big boys are in town now, they're taking the name back.

[DoubleD]

8 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

In a country we’re 99% percent of people wouldn’t the difference between League and Union, it’s pretty important they label which type of rugby it is.

Wait until the commentators start calling it football............how will people cope?

[fighting irish]

58 minutes ago, DoubleD said:

Wait until the commentators start calling it football............how will people cope?

That's less offensive. 

[Tex Evans Thigh]

5 hours ago, Whippet13 said:

The previous US bodies claiming oversight of the game are now defunct, it is just the USARL who remain, and they are the internationally recognised body.

Beneath that there are 4 functional regional competitions in the NE, SE, California and Utah. Each of these is affiliated to the USARL (the NE one currently unofficially I think).

The overall situation over there seems quite stable, at present, and the game is growing again after the chaos and disruption caused by NARL, CRL and Covid.

This is not entirely true. The RLU in the north east is not affiliated with the USARL as things currently stand. Your general point is accurate though, the game is relatively stable and starting to grow again. 

[İzmir Rugby League]

Clearly there was an oversight or something. I suspect it was simply a connection from one of the players who went. 

HOWEVER ... The NRL is running, with the USARL, the Vegas 9's and offering 20 thousand to the men's champion and 20 thousand to the women's. Those teams involved will also get twenty free tickets to the game.

Utah RL have a right to be annoyed but if they are smart they will end up rolling with it because there is too much to gain from being connected to the Vegas events.

You can gaurantee the 9's (and masters game) will be the biggest RL event in domestic Rugby League in the USA ever. 

I think, with the combine, if this can continue strongly for five years and it's links with UFC etc this will end up massive for local Rugby League as well.

Edited December 19, 2023 by İzmir Rugby League

[Futtocks]

4 minutes ago, İzmir Rugby League said:

Clearly there was an oversight or something. I suspect it was simply a connection from one of the players who went. 

HOWEVER ... The NRL is running, with the USARL, the Vegas 9's and offering 20 thousand to the men's champion and 20 thousand to the women's. Those teams involved will also get twenty free tickets to the game.

You can gaurantee the 9's (and masters game) will be the biggest RL event in domestic Rugby League in the USA ever. 

I think, with the combine, if this can continue strongly for five years and it's links with UFC etc this will end up massive for local Rugby League as well.

As always when Rugby League gets a Big Idea, it's the follow-up where things tend to fall to bits.

If the NRL are doing a push as big as this, they can't just do it once and think "job done".

[Magic XIII]

4 hours ago, İzmir Rugby League said:

Clearly there was an oversight or something. I suspect it was simply a connection from one of the players who went. 

HOWEVER ... The NRL is running, with the USARL, the Vegas 9's and offering 20 thousand to the men's champion and 20 thousand to the women's. Those teams involved will also get twenty free tickets to the game.

Utah RL have a right to be annoyed but if they are smart they will end up rolling with it because there is too much to gain from being connected to the Vegas events.

You can gaurantee the 9's (and masters game) will be the biggest RL event in domestic Rugby League in the USA ever. 

I think, with the combine, if this can continue strongly for five years and it's links with UFC etc this will end up massive for local Rugby League as well.

Thank goodness for some big picture thinking on what is a well planned, highly financed, well produced investment vs some small fry minor issue. M62 thinking yet again.

[Tex Evans Thigh]

4 hours ago, İzmir Rugby League said:

Clearly there was an oversight or something. I suspect it was simply a connection from one of the players who went. 

HOWEVER ... The NRL is running, with the USARL, the Vegas 9's and offering 20 thousand to the men's champion and 20 thousand to the women's. Those teams involved will also get twenty free tickets to the game.

Utah RL have a right to be annoyed but if they are smart they will end up rolling with it because there is too much to gain from being connected to the Vegas events.

You can gaurantee the 9's (and masters game) will be the biggest RL event in domestic Rugby League in the USA ever. 

I think, with the combine, if this can continue strongly for five years and it's links with UFC etc this will end up massive for local Rugby League as well.

This is the main take-away, there are a lot of positives. Not connecting with RL teams is a poor oversight but there is a lot of good stuff being rolled out. I'm taking my team to the 9s (and playing in the Masters against my better judgement) and both events are building nicely. I'm also looking forward to the coaching seminar they are putting on for coaches of the 9s teams, that sounds like a good initiative to help develop the game over here.

[Bradman Better]

23 hours ago, fighting irish said:

I'm not trying to be confrontational but this response is intriguing.

Can you list the 28? Or give me/us more information about the organisations your refer to?

I'm very interested in the development of RL in the United States. 

 

I know that you are not trying to be confrontational ,  but .....

 

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by Bradman Better

[The Rocket]

19 hours ago, İzmir Rugby League said:

The NRL is running, with the USARL, the Vegas 9's and offering 20 thousand to the men's champion and 20 thousand to the women's.

20 000 dollars each to the women`s and men`s winners, frankly that`s incredible, and what an incentive for rugby competitions - both League and union and maybe even NFL clubs at any level - to be forming teams and applying for entry. And coaching clinics for the participating Nine`s teams, something to take home with them to develop the game.

[fighting irish]

20 minutes ago, Bradman Better said:

 

I know that you are not trying to be confrontational ,  but .....

 

 

I'm sorry but I just don't understand your response? I'd rather not guess what it means, can you elucidate?

[The Rocket]

5 minutes ago, fighting irish said:

I'm sorry but I just don't understand your response? I'd rather not guess what it means, can you elucidate?

I`ll put you out of your misery Irish, I think his forum name would probably be more accurate if it was @Bradman Bulldust, there`s no 28 conferences or whatever, it was his idea of a joke. 

Edited December 20, 2023 by The Rocket

[Bradman Better]

I am sure that this Las Vegas adventure will do nothing for the growth of rugby league in the USA. The only way that it could help is if the gambling project could raise enough money to be invested into the development of the game in schools in north America

There is only one model for such growth, and that was the Toronto Wolfpack just before Covid killed it. A billionaire Australian investor and recreation of the Wolfpack professional club in Canada, along with another club in a major Canadian city -- either Montreal (the best choice) or Ottawa -- would be great. That would need to be followed by the creation of a professional clubs in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston. Those clubs in turn would form the north American conference of Super League.

There is just one huge stumbling block; where can you find the players to fill these teams with professional players of Super League standard? Toronto managed to find enough players for one team. But six teams? Impossible at this time, especially given the plans of the NRL to expand its own competition with up to three new teams in the coming years.

So I would say try to start up two teams in north America -- Toronto and New York -- participating in the European Super League competition. You will need two Australian billionaires to do that. Lachlan Murdoch could be one of them. Then use these starting teams as magnets for current rugby union and NFL rejects to join, and with the help of a few senior Australians, Kiwis, and English players, teach them how to play rugby league. Then NRL money could be used to promote development in the schools. If that limited experiment is successful, then you could add Chicago Montreal, Boston and Philadelphia over time, to make up the north American conference of Super League. But of course television coverage would have to be part of the project, otherwise there will be no corporate sponsors. 

Personally I would think that development of the game in France would be much easier, with Australian billionaire owners and NRL money starting up professional teams in Paris and Lyon (where there have been rugby league teams in the past) to join Catalans and Toulouse in Super League. Once you have four professional French teams in Super League you will start to really grow the game in France, strengthen the French national team considerably, and create a serious international competition and World Cup. Having France as well as England competitive will also make the game of rugby league more interesting for north American youth to want to play. 

Edited December 20, 2023 by Bradman Better

[Big Picture]

53 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

20 000 dollars each to the women`s and men`s winners, frankly that`s incredible, and what an incentive for rugby competitions - both League and union and maybe even NFL clubs at any level - to be forming teams and applying for entry. And coaching clinics for the participating Nine`s teams, something to take home with them to develop the game.

20,000 $ an incentive for for NFL franchises?  ROFLMAO

[NRLandSL]

1 hour ago, Bradman Better said:

I am sure that this adventure will do nothing for the growth of rugby league in the USA. The only way that it could help is if the gambling project could raise enough money to be invested into the development of the game in schools in north America

There is only one model for such growth, and that was the recreation of the Toronto Wolfpack professional club in Canada, along with another club in a major Canadian city -- either Montreal (the best choice) or Ottawa. That would need to be followed by the creation of a professional clubs in New York City, Chicago Philadelphia, and Boston. Those clubs in turn would form the north American conference of Super League.

There is just one huge stumbling block; where can you find the players to fill these teams with professional players of Super League standard? Toronto managed to find enough players for one team. But six teams? Impossible at this time, especially given the plans of the NRL to expand its own competition with up to three new teams in the coming years.

So I would say try to start up two teams in north America -- Toronto and New York -- participating in the European Super League competition. You will need two Australian billionaires to do that. Lachlan Murdoch could be one of them. Then use these starting teams as magnets for current rugby union and NFL rejects to join, and with the help of a few senior Australians, Kiwis, and English players, teach them how to play rugby league. Then NRL money could be used to promote development in the schools. If that limited experiment is successful, then you could add Chicago Montreal, Boston and Philadelphia over time, to make up the north American conference of Super League. But of course television coverage would have to be part of the project, otherwise there will be no corporate sponsors. 

Personally I would think that development of the game in France would be much easier, with Australian billionaire owners and NRL money starting up professional teams in Paris and Lyon (where there have been rugby league teams in the past) to join Catalans and Toulouse in Super League. Once you have four professional French teams in Super League will grow the game in France, strengthen the French national team considerably, and make the game of rugby league more interesting for north American youth to want to play. 

I think you’ve got a bit ahead of yourself.

[Bradman Better]

6 minutes ago, NRLandSL said:

I think you’ve got a bit ahead of yourself.

No. Just a bit ahead of the NRL and the RFL in England.

[dkw]

On 19/12/2023 at 11:16, Big Picture said:

There seems to be a common misunderstanding here of the role of professional sports leagues.

Their role is run their league and ensure that it's profitable and sustainable, not to develop their particular sport at lower levels.  The latter is the responsibility of national governing bodies, the USARL in this case.

Thus the NRL focusing on other goals is perfectly understandable.  That said, they seem not to understand how small and insignificant RU is in North America; if they did, they'd know that getting US RU players to switch won't help them acquire an audience there.

Absolutely, and they should never ever think of the greater good of the game, or try and help anyone other than themselves, thats a great way of thinking and absolutely guaranteed to never bite them on the ###### in the future.