ASEAN Rugby League kicks off

[adamkungl]

The newest Rugby League in the world has just kicked off in Thailand

Details are still forthcoming but the "Central Zone" conference played its first games on March 3, with 4 teams located in and around Bangkok and Pattaya.

There are expected to be 4 more teams entering from Thailand's Isan northwest region and Laos

https://www.aseanrl.com/2019/03/03/asean-super-league-kicks-off-this-sunday/

 

[Coastbloke]

Hope it goes well. Geoff Bombell (Media) is quite active on FB..

 

[adamkungl]

Remember Thailand was quite active in the emerging test scene a few years ago and then they were stripped of their membership for governance issues.

This is a big comeback. They are currently not RLIF members according to the RLIF website, BUT 4-6 active clubs could put them in range for Affiliate membership and in turn WC Qualifiers, which would be the first Asian nation to do so.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Cool!!!

I think they should definitely combine all of SE Asia into a single Super League (like theyve done in the Balkins). Maybe keep the regular season fairly localised to keep costs down, but the big finals series should be combined

 

[deluded pom?]

Remember Thailand was quite active in the emerging test scene a few years ago and then they were stripped of their membership for governance issues.

This is a big comeback. They are currently not RLIF members according to the RLIF website, BUT 4-6 active clubs could put them in range for Affiliate membership and in turn WC Qualifiers, which would be the first Asian nation to do so.

Japan have played in WC qualifiers before.

 

[adamkungl]

Japan have played in WC qualifiers before.

True!
But Japan seem to have regressed until a recent re-emergence.
I'll rephrase - playing in Qualifiers for 2025 would place Thailand first in current Asian standings.

Imo the region is on the cusp of good things
Activity in Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan

 

[Foreign Legion]

l


ogos look good

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

l


ogos look good

I was wondering about them....

Does anyone know the story? Do they have an agreement with the ARLC, are the run by the ARLC or have they just stolen it?

 

[yakstorm]

NRL Asia has an agreement in place with the NRL to use the brand in the Asian markets, and will be taking events like the NRL Masters over in 2019.

ASEAN Rugby League is a bit like your Latin Heat, focusing on supporting the domestic leagues in Asia as well as activating the Asian communities in countries like Australia, New Zealand and England.

The ASEAN Super League will have eight teams in 2019, with the Mekong Conference, involving two Lao teams and two more Thai teams to play their Round One in the coming weeks.

The ASEAN Rugby League is helping co-ordinate and fund the competition with locals in the Isaan Federation of Clubs XIII, Central Federation of Clubs XIII and Eastern Federation of Clubs XIII.

The hope is that these local leagues (including ones not playing in the ASEAN SL this year like Northern Lana), featuring local clubs and local players will form the new Thai RL (whatever it's called) and avoid the mistakes of previous attempts in the region.

There is also hopes to grow the ASEAN SL over the coming years adding new 4 team conferences in a sustainable manner.

In planning for this there is already work happening in Cambodia and around Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

 

[siv]

It looks like a good strategy to develop this area as a group

Just like the Balkans they are too small individually but strong as as a group

 

[yakstorm]

So other news in the ASEAN Region.

Philippines Domestic Competition, the Estepa Elefante Cup, kicks off for a third season.
https://www.aseanrl.com/2019/03/11/estepa-elefante-cup-kicks-off-in-clark/

This year we see four clubs, the Manila Storm (Foundation Club), North Luzon Hunters (2017 Champions), Cavite State University Tigers (2018 Champions) and the Clark Brothers team, which is made up predominately of individuals from the local orphanages in the Angeles City region.

Season kick off also involved a children's development clinic for the local orphanges.


Touch Football Development Camp in Mae Sot
https://www.aseanrl.com/2019/03/10/global-alms-touch-football-development-camp-kicks-off-this-week/

In conjunction with charity, Global Alms, the clinic will be held near the Thai - Burma border teaching touch football to youths aged 8 - 25.


Women's Rugby League Development Clinic
https://www.aseanrl.com/2019/03/08/womens-rugby-league-set-to-hit-thailand/

Set to take part in the Isaan region, the Development clinic will lay the foundation for the establishment of a Women's Rugby League competition in Thailand.


India Jungle Cats announce clash against Colombia
https://www.aseanrl.com/2019/03/08/indian-jungle-cats-announce-clash-against-colombia/

Closer to home, but still important, the India Jungle Cats will be India's first Rugby League representative team and will play Colombia in a historic clash later this year. Whilst most players will be from Australia and New Zealand, the establishment of a 'national' team, will benefit the work being done back in India.

 

[Life's Good]

Hi All,

I hope this is the right place for this. One of my mates is involved in the Phillipines RL comp and here he talks about it in a more detail.

https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage...rugby-league-group-its-third-year-philippines

 

[Stallion]

Hi All,

I hope this is the right place for this. One of my mates is involved in the Phillipines RL comp and here he talks about it in a more detail.

https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage...rugby-league-group-its-third-year-philippines

A fascinating interview . Interestingly he points out that rugby league doesn't gain the funding rugby union does as its still not recognised officially as an international sport! Not only does union access government funding,it also has access to funds from union's own international body. How up against the odds does rugby league need to be!? It's quite clear rugby league is not getting a fair go in the Philippines and elsewhere!

 

[yakstorm]

Two more games this weekend. In the ASEAN Super League the Ubon Wild Bees will play the Mukdahan Blue Nagas, whilst Thailand will host it's first Women's match when the Mukdahan Blue Birds play the Moon River Wildcats.

https://www.aseanrl.com/2019/03/16/ubon-wild-bees-return-to-the-field-this-sunday/

https://www.aseanrl.com/2019/03/15/ubon-to-host-first-womens-rugby-league-match/

 

[yakstorm]

Ubon Wild Bees have defeated Mukdahan Blue Nagas 64 - 12 in their opening match.

 

[parrawentyfan]

Currently living in China and thought it was worth making a few points re some East Asian countries (and didn't think it was worth a new thread).

There is almost no presence of any rugby basically anywhere in China. There might be some prestigious private schools where union is played but it would be a tiny number.
The British union competition is on the main sports channels CCTV5 and CCTV5+ pretty regularly as are the advertisements.

You can purchase cheap jerseys online for NRL, Superleague and international RL if you search Chinese language online stores.

I know we all laugh about the idea of pushing the game in China, but there is so much potential here with union basically absent.

There are so many niche TV channels here which are basically just publically available. A basketball channel, a poker channel, an online gaming channel. Given the low value of China's currency I wonder what it would cost to fund a RL channel that just ran matches with the odd explanation about rules etc. That might be a stretch (Chinese audio in particular) but a one hour highlights package or magazine show would do wonders. Give the content to China for free as an investment.

As one example as a sport which has grown from a low base, ice hockey is much more popular than 10 years ago largely on the back of the NHL having a presence on CCTV5 and CCTV5+.

I am using the NRL Watch app but there is no hope in hell of any locals using it because:
- Google Play isn't available here. Most people use the Baidu app store but the NRL Watch app isn't on it.
- The fees are outrageous from a local perspective. A monthly subscription is probably more than many people's wage. If they want anyone overseas to take interest and not just expats the fees need to change.

Re Hong Kong - not much to say other than I just visited and saw a NZ Warriors jersey at Disneyland. Fun times.

Re Japan - It looks like union is about to stab Japan rugby in the back by ditching the Sunwolves from Super Rugby. Incredibly short sighted if true. How can League take advantage? Or will we just do nothing as usual.

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Also living in the Peoples' Republic, some interesting food for thought..

The current President is known to not be a fan of contact sports, and as such, the trickle down effect is definitely in full swing. My ex-girlfriend works for a major sporting organisation, who along with their competitors, have been trying to get on in the market for about a decade and still barely have a presence despite the sport's (MMA) meteoric rise in popularity globally (and indeed locally, to a degree.)

Chinese people don't like team sports. Football is popular from a fans' perspective around World Cup and the European leagues, but a lot of that has to do with hype, stardom etc. Chinese people love a good bandwagon hop...just look what happened when the Dutch had success at the world cup a few years ago...the amount of orange you saw the next day haha. No one watches the local leagues, other than the Shanghai derby.

The same goes for the NBA, outside of Lebron, Kobe, Curry, I doubt there is a hell of a lot of support for the game. That being said, the courts near my joint are always jam packed, so I guess it fares well as far as local participation is concerned. No one goes to the local league games though ala football.

A few dudes I've met play rugby here but I'm quite sure there are very few (if any) locals playing.

 

[parrawentyfan]

Great to have your insight too. Interesting about the MMA example!

Even though Chinese are definitely more involved with EPL and NBA, the attendance figures at the local leagues are actually very impressive. A number of the CSL teams average attendances in the 30-40,000 range. Certainly the games I’ve been to have been all over 20,000 with no away support (Mostly Champions League). The smaller clubs all average 10-20,000. The CBA matches I’ve seen have mostly 3/4 full stadiums in fairly large indoor arenas. I think it shows that local leagues can be ‘successful’ despite being largely ignored by most of the population, such is the huge population here.

Anyway, back to RL. Having any impact in China is a massive long shot, but if there is ever going to be any form of rugby popular, my point is that it isn’t necessarily a given that union have a head start - certainly less than most other countries anyway. We also have the strange situation (a bit like India I guess) where there is a massive expat community in Australia, but one which hasn’t engaged locally with the NRL much at all despite living right in the mix of it.

 

[yakstorm]

The Watch NRL model unfortunately was incredibly short sighted by the NRL and much like the models that the NRL attempted with Telstra and Perform Sports before they streaming games for free on Livestream it is a very small ex-pat audience that can both afford and is willing to take it up.

Honestly I'm not sure why a hybrid approach couldn't have been taken, especially in countries where the Watch NRL fee is simply too expensive for locals.

Anyway for China, firstly great insight from @parrawentyfan & @Manurewa_Marlins. I know China is on the wish list for the ASEAN Super League, however is naturally a few years away, but I believe the target area is around the Yunnan province due to both it's proximity to the rest of the League playing areas in South-East Asia, its diverse demographics and the fact that none of the millions that World Rugby is pumping into China is making its way down south.

Have you guys had much experience in that part of the country? Any insights around whether or not it would be a worthwhile target?

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Probably wouldnt be too difficult if there were a reasonable foreigner population, to put a team together. But getting into schools is nye-on impossible and you can all but forget about local government support unless you or someone you know has that connection already. But, rugby league continues to surprise in development areas...so ya never know!

@parrawenty...really? other than the Shanghai derby I've yet to See a crowd that big...any idea if those are paid tickets or papered crowds (happens Here a lot).