Historic New York rugby league bid

[WT2K]

From Brookvale to Brooklyn, Bondi to Broadway, Shark Park to Central Park, Bankwest Stadium to Yankee Stadium.

Rugby league, New York is calling. The Daily Telegraph can reveal New York’s historic bid to enter the English Rugby Football League structure is now just weeks from final approval.

Christmas this year in New York will now include a professional rugby league team.

It will be a whole new world for rugby league and a game-changer for off-contract Australian players.

And although Santa won’t be able to deliver the presents this year, New York has already started compiling an NRL wish list of players who are coming off contract after next season.

Most of them will be nearing the end of their careers and include Benji Marshall (34 years old), Kieran Foran (29), Brett Morris (33), Josh Morris (33), Darius Boyd (32), Sia Soliola (33), Aiden Tolman (30), Matt Prior (32), Jesse Bromwich (30), James Tamou (30) and James Graham (34).

New York will likely win entry into the third-tier League One for 2021. There would then be an expected promotion into the second-tier RFL Championship in 2022 before an anticipated rise into the top-flight Super League by 2023.

“The amount of players that have reached out and wanted to be involved has been ridiculous. This is huge,” said Ricky Wilby, the New York Rugby League chief executive.

The RFL is expected to rubber stamp New York’s entry into English rugby league before Christmas, and a $1 million-a-season marquee player will be targeted once in Super League.

“We would want players who are prepared to be involved in something from the ground up,” Wilby said.

“It (official entry from the RFL) probably won’t be days away but certainly weeks. We want it closed and sealed off by Christmas or the close of this year.

“That will give us a full year before we kick a ball. Things are progressing nicely.

“The players coming out of contract next year, we can start talking to them. That’s why we want to get it signed off before Christmas.

“It’s a whole new world for rugby league and for the player pool.”

New York hasn’t announced a nickname or logo but is working toward playing at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey — 12km west of Lower Manhattan.

The stadium is also the home of professional soccer club the New York Red Bulls.

Virgin Atlantic and Hilton Hotels are poised to be announced as New York’s major partners.

Their charter will be to nail down flight and accommodation packages for clubs which make the seven-hour trans-Atlantic journey.

The hope is for New York to copy the instant success of Toronto Wolfpack, who entered League One in 2017, were promoted the following season and are now heading into Super League.

“I think we will be told to take the League One route,” said Wilby, who has been dealing with RFL financial director Tony Sutton, who was in Australia for the World Nines.

The formalities for New York are being finalised and include liability for fans at home games.

Senior general manager of Hilton’s Newark Airport hotel, Paul Grande, was a special guest at this year’s Super League grand final at Old Trafford, Manchester. So too were Wilby and James Rowan, head of sports partnership for Virgin Atlantic.

Newark Liberty International Airport is located just 8km from Red Bull Arena.

Grande told the English media: “Ricky was looking in the area for hotels and the league came to our sales team and explained it was a potential start-up in the area.

“I’m keen to grow our business, that’s the selfish part, then as I saw the potential of this league and the vision of it, I want to be as big a part of it as possible.

“My initial reaction when not knowing the sport well was that I couldn’t understand how the sport was surviving without all these concussion issues that we seem to experience in the States with our helmet sports.”
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...s/news-story/0e6a3f691983534a71dae4c25f6f5bb4

 

[taste2taste]

Its an exciting development for the expansion of league....even if it is growing the game top to bottom. It'll be interesting to see if the owners go 'all out' to win like the Wolfpack or if they try and develop homegrown talent which will take at least 5 or more years to get promoted to Super League.

Will people travel to New Jersey to watch a foreign sport ? A quick google search says its a 40min drive or 1hr 10mins by train from Brooklyn to Red Bull Stadium and 30 drive 50 train from Manhattan.

Either way, it'll be great to watch their progress. I'll be watching closely. I wonder if in our lifetimes we'll see a competitive test game USA v Australia?

Assuming Ottawa sort out the central funding issue, they should also be joining in 2021.

 

[Dakink]

They have already stated they won't be entering Toronto style aiming to win at all costs, rather develop and use local talent.

 

[Mr Angry]

Should sign Holmes.

Will people travel to New Jersey to watch a foreign sport ? A quick google search says its a 40min drive or 1hr 10mins by train from Brooklyn to Red Bull Stadium and 30 drive 50 train from Manhattan.

They go to watch soccer yeah?

 

[taste2taste]

Should sign Holmes.

They go to watch soccer yeah?

Soccer is a major sport in the USA and they can't even sell out a 25k seat stadium evey week. Makes me think the stadium is a bit difficult to get to.

 

[Foreign Legion]

https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/11/24...ow-storm-model-as-they-follow-wolfpack-trail/

The establishment of a New York team in 2021 to follow the path created by Toronto Wolfpack is set to bolster the game in the United States as the club will focus on developing home-grown talent.

The USA failed to qualify for the 2021 World Cup after losing to Cook Islands last weekend but there are high hopes for the future of the code in North America following the hype created by Toronto’s recruitment of Sonny Bill Williams and the admission of the New York City team by the RFL.
While officials are waiting to learn whether NYC can start in the Championship or must enter the third-tier League One as the Wolfpack did, they are preparing to join the UK competition in 2021 and recently visited the Melbourne Storm.

Members of the USA Hawks have been advised of the club’s plans and the NYC bid team has received approaches from a number of North American-based rugby union players.

NYC director of rugby Tony Feasey said the New York team would not be plundering the NRL and had agreed on an import quota.

“Under our contact agreement we are only allowed five imports but we can have as many Americans, Canadians and Jamaicans as we like, and Englishmen,” Feasey said.

The USA were part of the 2017 World Cup but failed to qualify for 2021.Scott Davis/NRL Photos
“We are trying to find out where the French stand in terms of Brexit and the rules around that, and also the Kolpack rules with Pacific Island players.

“We want to open up the talent pool and, with no disrespect to Toronto, our aim is to have US-based players.”

Feasey recently spent time in Melbourne visiting the Storm and he said the NRL club was the model for New York.

With limited import spots on their roster, Feasey said NRL stars wanting to join New York City would need to come for the right reasons.

“There is a lot of excitement but we want guys who want come who want to create a legacy in New York,” he said.

“Look at when Melbourne started and the history they have created and the legacy they have created.

“We don’t want guys to come for a holiday or just because they want to live in New York. We want them to come and be a legacy player, win League One, win the Championship, win Super League.”

The New York team will have a 30-man squad and players not required for each week’s games will be sent to play for clubs in the USARL competition.

The arrangement is similar to that employed by the Broncos, Cowboys, Titans and Storm, who have feeder club arrangements with teams in Queensland's Intrust Super Cup competition.

Match Highlights: Kangaroos v USA

“Part of our mandate which we have agreed to with the RFL is we want to help develop the USARL competition," Feasey said.

“We are looking at having a development side from our 30-man squad and the guys who don’t make the playing team or the travelling team will filter back into the local competition and help strengthen that.

“During the week they are on a professional contract so they are training, they are playing, they are eating right and learning and they can take that back to the local clubs and hopefully that will filter through and help bring the standard up.”

Players such as Northern Pride's American forward Joe Eichner, former Wolfpack fullback Ryan Burroughs, who had a stint with Wentworthville, and Australian-born USA dual international Luke Hume have been linked with New York.

Burroughs was on show at the World Cup 9s in Sydney in October and scored the USA's only try in a 41-11 loss to the Australian Kangaroos.

Another USA rugby union international Ahmad Harajly, who represented Lebanon at last month's Nines tournament in Sydney, could be another potential recruitment target.