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New York pro rugby league team

POPEYE

Coach
Messages
11,397
New York 2020 League 1 starting lineup:
1. Slater
2. Ryan Hall
3. Hayne
4. Israel Folau
5. Brett Morris
6. Jonathon Thurston
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Paul Gallen
9. Cameron Smith
10. Burgess
11. Sonny Bill Williams
12. Burgess
13. Burgess

:cool:
That team of NRL past their used by date holidaymakers should just about topple any current ESL team
 

fourplay

Juniors
Messages
2,236
Which "higher-profile US rugby union players" is he talking about? I couldn't name even one US RU player and chances are neither could any Usonian sports fans either; the higher-profile athletes in the US with transferable skills would all be gridiron players, none would be RU players.

Carlin Isles would be the highest profile player followed by Perry Baker, both play 7's. I think Carlin Isles is the only player who American's would be familiar with because he set the NFL's fastest 40 yard dash record and he gets a lot of media because of his speed. Lots of "worlds fastest rugby player" articles and vids on YouTube etc.
 
Last edited:

POPEYE

Coach
Messages
11,397
Carlin Isles would be the highest profile player followed by Perry Baker, both play 7's. I think Carlin Isles is the only player who American's would be familiar with because he set the NFL's fastest 40 yard dash record and he gets a lot of media because of his speed. Lots of "worlds fastest rugby player" articles and vids on YouTube etc.
Isles would be almost as good a RL 9's player as Addo-Carr except even Josh's tackling would disqualify a comparison . . . you are right, Carlin was great to watch until the Fijians took over the 7's
 
Messages
11,916
PROSPECTIVE Super League franchise New York have approached Ipswich duo Ben and Shane Walker in the wake of their NRL coaching snub from the Gold Coast Titans.

The New York consortium will arrive on the Gold Coast next week to meet with the Walkers, who remain determined to eventually break into the NRL despite their disappointment at missing out on the Titans post.

Former Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter, currently masterminding Fiji at the World Cup, has been linked with the post, but the Walkers have landed on the American consortium’s radar.

New York have submitted a business plan to England’s governing body, the RFL, to play second-tier football in 2019 with a view to being promoted to Super League the following season.

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85e1caa6d7d542170e0ff1d47bf325b4

Shane and Ben Walker still want that NRL shot. Photo: Darren England.
Several NRL coaches have served their apprenticeship in Super League, including Newcastle’s Nathan Brown and the Roosters’ Trent Robinson, but the Walkers are not convinced it is a guaranteed pathway to success.

“We’ll have to think about the New York approach and the prospect of coaching overseas,” Shane Walker said.

“Our manager has been sounded out by New York. I don’t know how far advanced their bid is and we also have young families, so if we moved to the States or England, there would be some things we would have to consider.

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You can download League Central podcasts via iTunes.


“Myself and Ben have successful businesses and there is the opportunity to move away from them, but the opportunity has to be enticing as well. I don’t think you necessarily have to go to Super League.

“Paul Green (North Queensland coach) is a good example. He coached in the Intrust Super Cup with Wynnum before having some time with the (Sydney) Roosters and now he has had great success with the Cowboys.

“Would we be any better coaching abroad? That’s something we need to consider.”

ff600248b61985b0ce91c74e51bc56bc

135e40dda9ebffbf3fe96220d274f39a

'Never been so excited'
The Walkers, who won the Intrust Super Cup in 2015, are committed to being NRL coaches.

“We haven’t given up hope of coaching NRL,” Shane said.

“Had we got the Titans job, I know we would have been able to do something with the squad they had, but we’ll learn from the process and keep trying to get better.

“We will continue to work hard and explore new ideas to be ahead of trends in the game.

“It’s nice to be seeing NRL teams imitate things we have been doing for seven years at Ipswich. Eventually the NRL opportunity will come with someone that sees fit to give us an opportunity.
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...r/news-story/5ab1edb1b8d4cbd0c07741b932095b03
“When they do, they will be rewarded.”
 
Messages
11,916
‌Joel Gould‌‌, ‌NRL.com

The New York City rugby league franchise aiming to enter the Super League will target Jarryd Hayne and the best players in the world and boast A$52 million in funding over the initial three years of its existence.

Bid founder Ricky Wilby is a Yorkshire-based entrepreneur who has been involved in rugby league all his life. He has spent the past 12 years with the Catalans Dragons in media, sponsorship and logistics.

"The plan is for New York to come in to the competition in 2019 and we put our bid application into the Rugby Football League two and a half months ago showing our finances, potential stadiums and hotels for opposition teams to stay in," Wilby told NRL.com.

"We have also shown them proof of funds and agreements in principle for sponsorship deals to cover the cost of flights and hotels for opposition teams.

"The only cost for the opposition teams will be getting from their home base to the airport. We will foot every other cost."

The bid team will ramp up its quest in the new year with plans for a delegation of RFL officials to visit New York to meet sponsors and examine facilities.

"We'd like to get a 'yes' 12 months out from when we intend to kick off our first game in 2019," Wilby said.

"We'd like to come into the Championship or Super League but there is a lot to do in terms of the League's structure.

"We also appreciate that there has been a precedent set with Toronto and Toulouse in the last couple of years and they have had to start at the bottom and work their way up.

"New York brings to the table star quality, a lot of commercial activity and is going to generate a lot of local interest in the UK and global interest in terms of America and Australia."

The start-up costs will be significant costs but Wilby said the bid team's investors would "put in 10 million pounds per year over the first three years", which equates to A$52. 5 million.

"One London-based investor is a property magnate with 20 properties in and around Mayfair and Kensington. There is another investor based in New York, also in property development," Wilby said.

The new franchise is looking at three stadiums but the preferred choice is Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, home of the New York Red Bulls.

New York intend to have five American players in their squad of 30 and Wilby has already been overwhelmed with interest.

"NRL stars and other players and their agents have approached me, as have coaches," he said.

"In terms of the players and their agents I have given them all the same response, which is that it is all very well for me to play 'fantasy football' and say that I'd like this player and that player, but I am not the coach.

"It is the coaches [that] will be appointed first and then we will go out with our shopping list, but Jarryd Hayne would be a perfect fit in terms of his already having gone to the United States and tried something new [in the NFL with San Francisco]".

Wilby said the bid team aimed to speak to Hayne in "the next three or six months".

"We'll also look to attract players who've been in a great culture at a club like Melbourne and involved in a team outside of rugby league heartland," he said.

"We want to sign the best players in the world with the right culture because we want to win competitions.

"We have that responsibility to ourselves, the competition and supporters."

Wilby met Ipswich Jets coaches Ben and Shane Walker last week on the Gold Coast and said they were in the mix to coach New York.

"They are innovators and have the ability to coach and develop players," he said.

"Players go to Ipswich, leave better players and go on to become NRL or Super League players.
http://m.nrl.com/well-funded-new-york-bid-targets-hayne/tabid/10874/newsid/116615/default.aspx
 

Golden point

Juniors
Messages
456
‌Joel Gould‌‌, ‌NRL.com

The New York City rugby league franchise aiming to enter the Super League will target Jarryd Hayne and the best players in the world and boast A$52 million in funding over the initial three years of its existence.

Bid founder Ricky Wilby is a Yorkshire-based entrepreneur who has been involved in rugby league all his life. He has spent the past 12 years with the Catalans Dragons in media, sponsorship and logistics.

"The plan is for New York to come in to the competition in 2019 and we put our bid application into the Rugby Football League two and a half months ago showing our finances, potential stadiums and hotels for opposition teams to stay in," Wilby told NRL.com.

"We have also shown them proof of funds and agreements in principle for sponsorship deals to cover the cost of flights and hotels for opposition teams.

"The only cost for the opposition teams will be getting from their home base to the airport. We will foot every other cost."

The bid team will ramp up its quest in the new year with plans for a delegation of RFL officials to visit New York to meet sponsors and examine facilities.

"We'd like to get a 'yes' 12 months out from when we intend to kick off our first game in 2019," Wilby said.

"We'd like to come into the Championship or Super League but there is a lot to do in terms of the League's structure.

"We also appreciate that there has been a precedent set with Toronto and Toulouse in the last couple of years and they have had to start at the bottom and work their way up.

"New York brings to the table star quality, a lot of commercial activity and is going to generate a lot of local interest in the UK and global interest in terms of America and Australia."

The start-up costs will be significant costs but Wilby said the bid team's investors would "put in 10 million pounds per year over the first three years", which equates to A$52. 5 million.

"One London-based investor is a property magnate with 20 properties in and around Mayfair and Kensington. There is another investor based in New York, also in property development," Wilby said.

The new franchise is looking at three stadiums but the preferred choice is Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, home of the New York Red Bulls.

New York intend to have five American players in their squad of 30 and Wilby has already been overwhelmed with interest.

"NRL stars and other players and their agents have approached me, as have coaches," he said.

"In terms of the players and their agents I have given them all the same response, which is that it is all very well for me to play 'fantasy football' and say that I'd like this player and that player, but I am not the coach.

"It is the coaches [that] will be appointed first and then we will go out with our shopping list, but Jarryd Hayne would be a perfect fit in terms of his already having gone to the United States and tried something new [in the NFL with San Francisco]".

Wilby said the bid team aimed to speak to Hayne in "the next three or six months".

"We'll also look to attract players who've been in a great culture at a club like Melbourne and involved in a team outside of rugby league heartland," he said.

"We want to sign the best players in the world with the right culture because we want to win competitions.

"We have that responsibility to ourselves, the competition and supporters."

Wilby met Ipswich Jets coaches Ben and Shane Walker last week on the Gold Coast and said they were in the mix to coach New York.

"They are innovators and have the ability to coach and develop players," he said.

"Players go to Ipswich, leave better players and go on to become NRL or Super League players.
http://m.nrl.com/well-funded-new-york-bid-targets-hayne/tabid/10874/newsid/116615/default.aspx
Thanks
 

Hello, I'm The Doctor

First Grade
Messages
9,124
Pfft, i hate it when they talk about players and coaches they could potentially sign. It just show they have nothing of value to say.

If they were confident in their business plan, they wouldnt feel the need to go to the media with crap like this.
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
Pfft, i hate it when they talk about players and coaches they could potentially sign. It just show they have nothing of value to say.

If they were confident in their business plan, they wouldnt feel the need to go to the media with crap like this.
If it wasn't obvious already the guys behind this have no credibility at all, UK media have pretty much clued up and stopped reporting on them at this point. But count on Aussie journos to promulgate a load of BS.
 

clarency

Juniors
Messages
1,217
Wow... they are really going to throw 52 million dollars at a professional club in a saturated market where no one has heard of the product with a team full of foreigners playing in a league on the other side of the world...

Righteo. Glad it's not my money...
 

Stallion

First Grade
Messages
7,467
Pfft, i hate it when they talk about players and coaches they could potentially sign. It just show they have nothing of value to say.

If they were confident in their business plan, they wouldnt feel the need to go to the media with crap like this.

If you are doubting this then it must be a good thing! "Start spreading the news. ..... New York. ..New York! ....
 

StadiumXIII

Juniors
Messages
176
Wow... they are really going to throw 52 million dollars at a professional club in a saturated market where no one has heard of the product with a team full of foreigners playing in a league on the other side of the world...

Righteo. Glad it's not my money...
Have you not heard of the Toronto Wolfpack? If the US like what they see then we'll have created a new market for RL. All that is needed is a reserve League/team for the players to feed up the system. Boston might be candidates for League 1 and maybe another Canadian team. Ontario could then have a feeder League to feed the professional systems. Toronto Wolfpack>Canada UK League 1>Ontario League, New York SL> Boston League 1>USARL and that is at least a pathway for players to develop. Next step is juniors!
 

Stallion

First Grade
Messages
7,467
Have you not heard of the Toronto Wolfpack? If the US like what they see then we'll have created a new market for RL. All that is needed is a reserve League/team for the players to feed up the system. Boston might be candidates for League 1 and maybe another Canadian team. Ontario could then have a feeder League to feed the professional systems. Toronto Wolfpack>Canada UK League 1>Ontario League, New York SL> Boston League 1>USARL and that is at least a pathway for players to develop. Next step is juniors!

Would certainly like to see leaguetag in the primary schools. If it can be seen as a progressive step toward rugby league contact version, it will be taken up and be a great source of junior development. Especially in primary schools and then a progression to the contact version in high school level. Just a thought for junior development paths.
 

clarency

Juniors
Messages
1,217
Have you not heard of the Toronto Wolfpack? If the US like what they see then we'll have created a new market for RL. All that is needed is a reserve League/team for the players to feed up the system. Boston might be candidates for League 1 and maybe another Canadian team. Ontario could then have a feeder League to feed the professional systems. Toronto Wolfpack>Canada UK League 1>Ontario League, New York SL> Boston League 1>USARL and that is at least a pathway for players to develop. Next step is juniors!

I sure have! Have you heard of Gold Coast Titans? They averaged over 20k their first few years and have since gone down hill. How bout Western Force? They averaged 28k in their first year and they don't exist anymore! On top of that you're equating two different cities in two different countries which doesn't make sense.

Bottom line is, these teams are nothing more than expensive toys for egotistical zillionaires that don't know what to use their money on. Several comments here suggesting that some actual development occur through school programs and development leagues. Yeah! Those would actually do a lot to help the game over there. So why are they dumping millions upon millions on these teams and nothing on local development?
Because they don't care about that. They want their own pro team that they can flash around in conversations with their other zillionaire buddies.

Like I said. Good luck to them.... but I'm glad it's not my money.
 

Golden point

Juniors
Messages
456
Wow... they are really going to throw 52 million dollars at a professional club in a saturated market where no one has heard of the product with a team full of foreigners playing in a league on the other side of the world...

Righteo. Glad it's not my money...
Saturated market....hmmmm do you have any comprehension of the scale of NY ?
Tell me how a crowd of 10k will be too much for NY ?
I'm sure they'll be ok.
 

Stallion

First Grade
Messages
7,467
They would if they actually existed. Which they don't.

Maybe they do exist? Rugby league started in brave and unchartered territory. It was a gamble and a great version of rugby has been created as a result. It just needs more structural support from the establishment. That's the battle for rugby league!
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
Maybe they do exist? Rugby league started in brave and unchartered territory. It was a gamble and a great version of rugby has been created as a result. It just needs more structural support from the establishment. That's the battle for rugby league!
Nope. More chance of a Perth team being in the NRL in 2019 than this team entering the RFL at any level. Seriously, this one is a non-starter.
 

DC_fan

Coach
Messages
11,980
Saturated market....hmmmm do you have any comprehension of the scale of NY ?
Tell me how a crowd of 10k will be too much for NY ?
I'm sure they'll be ok.

Regardless of the population size of New York Cioty (it is around 8-9 million) you still have to reach the 10,000 you suggest. I am not sure that the 10,000 would be clumped together in just one part of the city either. So it would require a lot of work, advertising, promotion, time and spend to get the message out. And for mine that is going to be the most difficult, if not impossible part of this undertaking.

Right now NYC has 2 NFL teams, 2 MLB teams, 2 NBA teams, 2 NHL teams and 2 MLS teams playing out of it. Their is not a time of the year when not one of those competitions is being played. On occasions two or more of these competitions are being played at the same time. All these professional sports, plus the college sports and other minor sports dominate the sports news cycle of the city. NYC is pretty well saturated with sport. Is there any more rooms for a new sport in the city? I have my doubts.

I wish them the best in getting this team up and running. But I have great doubts it will work.
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
Regardless of the population size of New York Cioty (it is around 8-9 million) you still have to reach the 10,000 you suggest. I am not sure that the 10,000 would be clumped together in just one part of the city either. So it would require a lot of work, advertising, promotion, time and spend to get the message out. And for mine that is going to be the most difficult, if not impossible part of this undertaking.

Right now NYC has 2 NFL teams, 2 MLB teams, 2 NBA teams, 2 NHL teams and 2 MLS teams playing out of it. Their is not a time of the year when not one of those competitions is being played. On occasions two or more of these competitions are being played at the same time. All these professional sports, plus the college sports and other minor sports dominate the sports news cycle of the city. NYC is pretty well saturated with sport. Is there any more rooms for a new sport in the city? I have my doubts.

I wish them the best in getting this team up and running. But I have great doubts it will work.
That isn't the issue. The issue is that there is no team here. There is no presence in New York, there is nobody with any finance or business acumen, this is just some random fan from Huddersfield who is claiming that he's going to start a team in New York and sign all the world's best players, and for some reason the Aussie media are running with it as though it's a totally legit and serious thing. It's like some bloke in his basement in Cronulla saying he's going to start a team in LA to enter the NRL in 2019. Just a laughable non-starter but the knucklehead Aussie journos have got wind of this and are now milking it as much as they can. The idea of a New York team being successful relative to most of the other teams in the RFL is not what is stopping this from happening.
 

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