South American RL News

[Knownothing]

So how are you finding the benefit of a combined LH team

Maybe Asia or Africa could benefit from the concept

Chinese, Thai, Indonesians, Japanese, etc do not think of themselves as Asian. They are themselves. I doubt that anybody living in these countries would identify with a team called "Asia".

 

[latingringo101]

So how are you finding the benefit of a combined LH team

Maybe Asia or Africa could benefit from the concept

Very beneficial for numerous reasons

The basic aim of the LH is to cast the net as wide as possible to help create individuals playing nations and then start/assist the sport in each individual nation.


1. In Australia and different parts of the world, Latinos feel like they have something in common despite being from 24 different countries. It doesn't matter if you're Uruguayan, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Mexican, Brazilian etc, there's a sense of coming from the same place. So it seemed logical to create a team where all Latin Americans could be represented wherever they live or stem from.

2. We also created a united Latin team because the whole of Latin America was basically un touched by Rugby League. So the best way to help get as many places as possible playing Rugby League in the future was to represent them all so there was the best chances of people from each nation feeling apart of the team and being encouraged to start RL in their home nations with the help of the Latin Heat brand.

So if there is a person from a country which doesn't have RL, they could know about the Latin Heat name and cause, feel apart of a community of fledging united RL nations under one banner and attempt to start RL in that nation with the help of the LH.

3. Just like Lebanon, Malta, Italy, Greece etc started playing RL via links in Australia, we tried to do the same. By raising awareness of Latinos playing RL in Australia, we could get the attention of Individuals in Latin America (mainly via social media) to want to start the sport up in their own backyards.

Plus by creating teams in tournaments such as the Cabramatta 9s (such as Chile & El Salvador) they could make people notice in their countries and be inspired to start the sport there.

That's basically the benefits of the team in a nut shell. We have solid contacts in Latin America now which were close to non existent before the team began.

Mexico and Argentina has domestic competitions, Brazil are really close to starting their own one too. Plus we have contacts in El Salvador, Ecuador, Colombia and Uruguay with individuals who are in the planning stage of attempting to start the game up.

It's like the old saying "Build it and they will come".

 

[latingringo101]

Migrants from Africa and Asia are unlikely to ever return to live in those places so apart from appealing to a different demographic of Australians it would largely be pointless.

I can only speak from a Latin Heat point of view but this is what we have done.

We have players who's parents or they themselves have migrated (sometimes immigrated) from Latin America to Australia. Some have gone through hard ships such as running from civil wars, dictatorships and for a better life style. Representing their heritage in Rugby League helps these players figure out who they are and where they come from.

Some of our players are uni students, have family back in Latin America and regularly live in Latin America for extended periods of time.

We have one guy named Diego Arellano (who commentates with NSW Cup games) tried to start the game in Argentina back in 2005 and encouraged the NSW police to tour there.

Fast forward to 2014 and he hears about the Latin Heat. Thanks to him we regularly have rules, documents, commentary via webcast and promotion of the sport in Spanish thanks to him. Plus he regularly visits Argentina and has been trying to promote Rugby League in Argentina for many years.

He also helped in 2015 find Carlos Varela who has set up 3 youth RL games in Argentina and looking to expand the sport further.

This is just 1 of numerous examples of how our organization (Latin Heat) has helped start the sport in Latin America by starting up in Australia with Australian based Latin Americans. We have had expressed interest to start the sport in Puerto Rico, Haiti, El Salvador, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador.

Plus Mexico and Argentina have been invited to play in the University World Cup in 2017 in Australia.

I can't comment on Asia or African teams but we definitely have had success by starting in Australia first.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Excellent to see people putting in hard work and being rewarded.
Great job so far.

 

[SJR]

Well done on the success you have had so far. I don't have any Latin American heritage but have followed the Latin Heat with interest since the beginning (including watching the live streams).

I love international rugby league and love seeing the game expand into different regions.

 

[deal.with.it]

Yeah it is annoying indeed. The reason we have contacts in Brazil is because some locals there saw the NRL being played on TV television.

We ran a Live steam for our match against Thailand last Saturday and had an average audience of 1000 people. We had individuals from countries like Ecuador, Mexico and USA watch the game from what i was told.

At the moment internet is the only way I'm afraid Latinos can watch NRL or Super League action at home.

I thought the live stream quality was great. One of the better ones I've seen.
Did anyone else watch?

 

[latingringo101]

I thought the live stream quality was great. One of the better ones I've seen.
Did anyone else watch?

Thank you, the person who was commentating in it was Diego Arellano (previously mentioned) who regularly commentates Sydney Shield and NSW Cup games.

Almost like watching it on television.

 

[latingringo101]

Well done on the success you have had so far. I don't have any Latin American heritage but have followed the Latin Heat with interest since the beginning (including watching the live streams).

I love international rugby league and love seeing the game expand into different regions.

Thanks, we do what we can

 

[latingringo101]

Fantastic to have The Honourable Nancy Benitez Paez and her associate Luis Miguel Palomino Ortiz of The Consulate of Colombia in Sydney came and visited the Latin Heat team at the Cabramatta 9s.

 

[deluded pom?]

Has there been any contact between the Latin Americans and Spain at all? The angle I'm looking at is the one of language. They can obviously converse with each other more easily and give each other support with both parties being at a similar stage of their development.

 

[latingringo101]

Has there been any contact between the Latin Americans and Spain at all? The angle I'm looking at is the one of language. They can obviously converse with each other more easily and give each other support with both parties being at a similar stage of their development.

Yes there has been.

We (Latin Heat) have spoken to the Spanish RL many times. We've had documents such as Rules, Refereeing and coaching material sent from the Spanish RL.

Mexico has even spoken to the guys at Euro Tag & Euro Touch on how to develop the sport from a social level.

 

[deluded pom?]

Thanks for the response lg.