Wigan and Hull FC coming to Australia; First Super League Game Outside of Europe

[flamin]

As a Wollongong native I'm super excited for this...

Hull and Wigan head down under for 2018 opener
Hull FC media release | July 26 2017 8:44PM

Embed from Getty Images



Hull FC are pleased to announce in partnership with Wigan Warriorsand Super League Europe, the playing of the first ever Betfred Super League fixture outside Europe at WIN Stadium, Wollongong on Saturday 10 February 2018.

World Club Champions Wigan Warriors, with the support of and Ladbrokes Challenge Cup holders Hull FC, have entered into an official Tourism and Destination Partnership with the New South Wales Government in order to facilitate a three-match tour of Australia in February 2018 by Super League clubs, Wigan Warriors and Hull FC.

Hull FC and Wigan Warriors will compete in an official Super League fixture in Wollongong when Wigan take their home game to WIN Stadium on 10th February 2018. The following week, the two English clubs will then take part in the first ever double-header games between Super League and NRL teams at a single venue when Hull FC face St George Illawarra Dragons and Wigan play South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium, Sydney on Saturday 17 February, 2018.

Hull FC and Wigan Warriors will both return to the UK to participate in the World Club Challenge or Series on the weekend of 24/25 February, should either team qualify.

The tour with the support of strategic sponsors of the visit, Destination NSW and Destination Wollongong, will make a significant contribution to the New South Waleseconomy both in Sydney and in the region of Wollongong.

New South Wales Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Adam Marshall, said: "Australia is mad for rugby league and I am thrilled the NSW Government has secured these exclusive matches for Sydney and Wollongong which will drive visitors to both areas. "The two Super League sides will spend two weeks in the State with the three-match tour expected to attract close to 5,000 interstate and overseas visitors to NSW, injecting more than $7 million into the local visitor economy. "We have a stellar line-up of rugby league events already scheduled in NSW, with this tour following the 2017 NRL Grand Final in October and Women's Rugby League World Cup in November and joining Game II of the State of Origin series in the 2018 major events calendar." Hull FCChairman, Adam Pearson, said:

"This is a landmark occasion for the sport of rugby league and an opportunity for Hull FC to play our part in making Super League history.

"Two of the competitions most high profile and best supported clubs will have the opportunity to promote Super League on a global scale, as well as developing solid and long-term international links with tourism stakeholders in New South Wales and Wollongong, another heartland of rugby league.

"We would like to thank the key stakeholders involved and Wigan Warriors for their ambition and forethought in delivering such a unique festival of sport and look forward to making this event a huge success. This is something our fans, our club and the Super League competition can be very proud of.

"There will be a great deal of excitement from fans of both clubs and we're sure many will want to travel to New South Wales for such an historic occasion, support their team and help showcase all that is good about rugby league in the UK."

Wigan Warriors Chairman, Ian Lenagan, commented:

"This announcement is one of the most innovative and exciting in the history of Wigan Rugby League Club. Director, Kris Radlinski, together with Commercial Sales Manager, Dan Burton, has been in negotiations with key stakeholders both in Australia and the UK over the last 12 months, delicately pulling together this complex agreement.

"The opportunities to create new and increased core business from sponsorships and partnerships together with Wigan brand development, the increased profile with NRL players and opportunity for our fans makes this the biggest single commercial contract in the history of the Club.

"The Wigan fans are famed for their loyal support as shown when a huge army of supporters travelled to Sydney for the World Club Challenge game with Sydney Roosters in 2014. We firmly believe that the Wigan and Hull fans will be as excited about this venture as we are and we have announced early to allow fans the chance to plan their trip to Australia and, at the same time, to provide clarity on the number of home games for the 2018 season before Season Ticket packages are launched later this year."

Destination Wollongong General Manager Mark Sleigh said today's announcement came with a nice link, given Wollongong's Deputy Lord Mayor John Dorahy coached the Warriors to Challenge Cup and first division glory in 1993/94.

"There are genuine links between Wigan and Wollongong and at the core of this partnership is the fact it represents two passionate and successful rugby league heartlands," he said. "Announcing a significant international event as part of our ever-growing major events portfolio is a coup for the region."

"Wollongong's love of rugby league is a defining aspect of our sporting culture and to have a giant of the international game making Wollongong its home is a wonderful opportunity. The last time Wigan came to Australia, they brought with them a touring party of 4500 fans, so the overnight visitation will be significant, with pre and post touring options planned to showcase the region's attractions during the English winter."

Rugby Football League Chief Commercial Officer and Super League Executive Director, Roger Draper, said:

"Featuring two of the biggest Rugby League teams in the British game, Wigan Warriorshave worked extremely hard in partnership with the New South Wales Government to create history for our game by hosting what will be the first-ever game outside of Europe while engaging an international fanbase, showcasing the vital role sport plays in the global economy and growing the Betfred Super League brand."

Tickets and travel packages for both games will go on sale at the end of August with 5,000 UK fans expected to travel with the teams.

Wigan Warriors and Hull FC in Sydney and Wollongong, 2018, is brought to you by Destination New South Wales and Destination Wollongong.

Hull FC would like to thank all stakeholders involved in this project

http://leagueunlimited.com/news/30663-hull-and-wigan-head-down-under-for-2018-opener/

 

[adamkungl]

I like it, and will go to both games. Ambitious without being pie in the sky.

Interesting that the WCC won't be over here despite this though.

 

[Pommy]

I like it, and will go to both games. Ambitious without being pie in the sky.

Interesting that the WCC won't be over here despite this though.

I guess this is a voluntary deal rather than forcing a club to do it.
I'm looking forward to it, hopefully I will be able to make both events.

 

[adamkungl]

Hull and Wigan are engaging in a brand building exercise.

While most Aussies don't watch Super League regularly, there is a fair bit of awareness of names like Hull and Wigan from the glory days of World Club Challenges and Kangaroo Tours.

They want to gain fans and increase their sponsorship value through international connections, what better place to start than the biggest existing Rugby League market in the world.

The only real criticism I have is that Super League and its clubs don't do more throughout the UK outside the heartlands, but that shouldn't detract from this.

 

[Pommy]

It would be nice to see another couple of teams do the same in Canada and one of them get a friendly with Toronto as well.

 

[DlEHARD]

I'll be going to this, even though I live in Brisbane. I want to attend the first Super League match outside of Europe. Maybe it'll be a sign of things to come.

 

[IntRLEnthusiast]

25 minutes away from me, cannot wait, i think it is great! ESL might not be as big as NRL but they are much better at trying new and different things.

 

[adamkungl]

Well it's given Mascord another excuse to ramble about Australian teams potentially playing in Super League...

It's interesting to think about a League with a worldwide footprint but the practical realities fall over until we have flights under 5 hours to London, which could be a century away and the sport dead and buried by then.
Super Rugby is a fine example of the dead end that inter-continental sports Leagues are.
Toronto Wolfpack is currently an outlier - when/if more American teams get added the complexities of scheduling increases.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...gnificant-than-you-think-20170727-gxjpk7.html

 

[deluded pom?]

What's the opinion of Aussie fans to the choice of venue?

 

[adamkungl]

What's the opinion of Aussie fans to the choice of venue?

Nice place. Not too far from Sydney. Will look good with 15-20k

 

[jim_57]

Nice place. Not too far from Sydney. Will look good with 15-20k

Never been, but thinking of a weekend trip if work permits.

 

[Dakink]

I'll be flying down for this for sure

 

[deluded pom?]

Nice place. Not too far from Sydney. Will look good with 15-20k

Will they get 15-20K bearing in mind SGI struggle to get that many when they play in Wollongong?

 

[deluded pom?]

The timing isn't fantastic. How many Wigan and Hull fans will be going to the WC and then back Down Under three months later?

 

[Foreign Legion]

http://amp.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...gnificant-than-you-think-20170727-gxjpk7.html

Falling asleep at one's post rarely goes unpunished.

The NRL's insistence on always looking inwards when there is an entire continent out there that wants to spend money on the sport of rugby league will be starkly exposed this spring during a World Cup with only two games in Sydney.

And now there is a new body willing to fill the void left by the rampant myopia of clubs who want to keep the loot to themselves and a League Central administration complicit in that endeavour.

It's Super League, who will kick off next next season with a game between Hull and Wigan at WIN Stadium.

The implication of this may not be immediately apparent; another full-time professional rugby league competition is coming onto the NRL's turf, in a city and at a venue that wants more games, and taking money that could be going into League Central coffers.

It's the best news Discord has heard this year. All this time we thought the NRL would go to London first – the fact it is happening in reverse only underscores just how much ambition is lacking in the Australian halls of power right now

hile the NRL plays petty politics over the make-up of the commission and argues with clubs and players over money, the British game is setting up clubs in North America, has a second French franchise heading for Super League and is now playing matches in Australia.

The amount of money at the disposal of bid teams in Perth, Wellington, Central Queensland, Port Moresby and maybe even the Central Coast and Darwin is potentially comparable to what it has taken to set up the Toronto Wolfpack, who we understand will soon be joined in the British lower divisions by a side in New York City.

Backers for a Dublin franchise are also being sought; Super League's lower salary cap makes expansion easier while travel can be covered by contra.

Direct, non-stop flights from Australia's west coast are about to start to London.

What is to stop all the frustrated officials in Australia, New Zealand, PNG and Fiji who have been repeatedly turned away by the NRL from doing what mining magnate David Argyle has done in Toronto and setting up a foreign franchise that can slowly work its way up the British divisions?

The game in Britain is boxed in commercially, with Sky money limited and the BBC not even interested enough to pay more than a pittance for the England-Samoa international earlier this year. It struggles for national publicity and wages are well below NRL levels, leaving players vulnerable to raids from rugby union.

Red Hall, then, has the motivation and now the blueprint to enter the Australasian market aggressively, sweeping up sponsors who can't afford to back the NRL or undercutting those who already do. To quote David Gallop, it needs to fish where the fish are and there are plenty of very hungry rugby league fish in Australia.

A commercial office – why not move into the World Cup's inexpensive headquarters in Haymarket when it moves out – would find broadcast partners, government support and sponsors abundant if there was a degree of persistence.

Imagine a southern hemisphere group of clubs playing home and away games in month long blocks like Toronto – Perth, Central Coast, Central Queensland, Wellington, Port Moresby, Fiji, Ipswich all backed by local governments and slowly working their way up the divisions! North Sydney Bears, do you have Nigel Wood's number?

Rugby league could go from being the most parochial and regional of sports to a league structure with the widest footprint of any game in the world over the course of the next decade – all because the British game is small enough to move and change quickly and desperate enough to try.

The new teams, then, would have away games not just in the north of England but in Canada, New York and the south of France. They would also be able to play against each other here, creating fresh fully professional rugby league events in Australia that would be completely outside the jurisdiction of the NRL and its affiliates. Media, governments and sponsors in regions currently snubbed by the NRL would eat this content up and the British game could leverage competitive tensions that already exist in southern hemisphere markets; the content appearing on opposing networks to those covering the NRL and sponsored by the opposition of NRL sponsors.

Toronto have shown what's possible. Hell, if the British game went back to winter it could have the summer months Down Under to itself, dominating the media.

Meanwhile, the same old suspects in the west of Sydney have the same old arguments over the same old things as crowds and ratings dwindle.

 

[grouch]

Will they get 15-20K bearing in mind SGI struggle to get that many when they play in Wollongong?

It just might. The local newspaper looks like they'll be promoting it hard. Here's yesterday's front page

 

[grouch]

Well it's given Mascord another excuse to ramble about Australian teams potentially playing in Super League...

It's interesting to think about a League with a worldwide footprint but the practical realities fall over until we have flights under 5 hours to London, which could be a century away and the sport dead and buried by then.
Super Rugby is a fine example of the dead end that inter-continental sports Leagues are.
Toronto Wolfpack is currently an outlier - when/if more American teams get added the complexities of scheduling increases.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...gnificant-than-you-think-20170727-gxjpk7.html

It's interesting as always from Mascord, his ambition/daydream stuff. I love it.

His reference to the New York City team though... how has that escaped me? Anyone got links to share about this?

 

[roughyedspud]

There's no links...he's made it up lol

 

[adamkungl]

There's been vague rumblings (aka hints at the bottom of articles) for a while of an American equivalent to Wolfpack. I doubt we'll see it for another few years at least.

 

[adamkungl]

His Perth->SL suggestion that he keeps bringing up at any opportunity shits me to tears though lol