Just because RL may never big a huge sport in the US doesn't mean it should be developed and made into a viable semi-pro/pro sport there. Too many people are eager to give up!

Rugby league in the US is like a fart in a thunderstorm. Always will be. This World Cup will have absolutely zero impact for a number of reasons.

Might aswell just give up then eh? Actually let's just cancel rugby league and join union instead

Not necessarily. All I am saying is let's not get hysterical as to what reaching the quarter-finals might do and whether the RFL need it to happen. There is a long list of more pressing issues that the rugby league world needs to worry about first, even if anybody had the untold millions to plough into the sport in the US for the next 2 decades.

As I keep saying on here, Canada is a far better bet - no petty squabbling, TV coverage, 8k crowds, sponsorship. Of course, it's not seen as glamorous as the US so never gets the credit it deserves.

Isn't the Chair of the RLIF Scott Carter?
And as far as I can see the RLIF board is made up of:
John Grant - Australian - Chair of the ARL Commission
Andrew Hill (Company Secretary) - Australian - worked for the NRL & ARL
Tagaloa Fa’afouina Su’a - Samoan - President of Samoa RL
Graeme Thompson - British - worked for RFL, England & Scotland RL
David Smith - Australian - CEO of the ARL Commission
Maurice Watkins - British - former Interim Chair of the RFL
Nigel Wood - British - CEO of the RFL
Charles Carlson - Cook Islands - President of APRLC and President of Cook Islands RL
Scott Carter (Chairman) - New Zealand - board member of NZRL
John Bishop - New Zealand - Board member of NZRL
Carlos Zalzuendo - France - RLEF Director

Out of 11 board members I can see 3 that have ties to the RFL, not sure how that makes it RFL dominated, seems dominated by board members from Australia and New Zealand to me.

Good shout that maple,canada seems to be growing nicely

They have a regular fixture with the yanks and didn't they play jamica recently???

Think what all this high lights is the need for regular international competitions at all levels and not just warrington verus bloody wigan being rammed down our throats

I suspect the aussies don't want to embrace regular international competition as it suit there agenda of raping the south sea islands for junior talent and giving them aussie passport

Now if the state of origin meant you did not need a aussie passport perhaps we could actually see the smaller islands grow internationally as the youngsters would not have to wait until austrailia as cast them aside to play for there country of birth

We're not talking about 'cracking' the US. A sport with 1% penetration in the US would dwarf RL in the UK.

I know what you mean. It's getting to the 1% that is the problem though.

1% penetration in China or India would be three times more than the US - same problem!

To be honest Jacksonville Axemen already get more than most Champ teams do in terms of supporters. It's just a shame that the team that got to the finals was axed for a load of Aussies.

As for TV coverage our friend from France keeps banging on about it. Its the media company that goes out selling them not RFL or IRLF

I'm not just talking about population, China and India don't have established sporting markets. USA is rife with great facilities and top athletes who aren't going anywhere. This is a country that regularly attracts crowds of over 100,000 to college football games. People have mentioned football being a minority sport, despite this the USA national side is currently ranked 13th in the world, ahead of the likes of France and Portugal. They were ranked ahead of England last month. This is a sport that has blanket coverage in most countries, but even a small fraction of the market share in the USA allows them to be competitive. The pool of athletes there is ridiculous and if we could harness even a tiny portion of that then they would already be up there with the strongest RL nations.

No it wouldn't.

Pakistan would be a good idea, plenty of them around to coach

France and Wales need to help themselves a bit. Particularly France. My god their national team is consistently bad.

It's a bit of a dilemma isn't it? If you go for the established sporting nations it takes an awful lot of money to make a dent, but you have the potential feed off the scraps of a fantastic infrastructure in sport; whereas if you aim for less developed nations it's probably easier to crack a decent number of the population - China, India, Indonesia all lack as much dedication to other sports than say... Brazil, Argentina or South Africa: especially when it comes to a contact sport. Add the likes of Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Egypt, Nigeria etc etc. If it turns out that a decent thirst for a contact sport in these nations over the next 50 years, if any sport dominates these giants they will dominate contact sport the world over (perhaps bar the USA), once infrastructure comes into play on the back of economic growth.

lol

Yes, it would. RL probably has a 10% market share in the UK tops. Jacksonville Axemen within 3 years were already bigger than most Championship clubs.

was thinking the same thing... but USA doing well isnt really good for RL, unless it actually gets noticed but America which it doesnt look like doing as no one in America knows about the world cup even happening!

would of been better for wales to get through but they blew it

Don't tell that to Danny Lockwood!

Yes. I said that. But the RLIF should have specified in the contract with IMG that all nations represented in the World Cup, which had a multichannel and multiplatform TV system (i.e. not just terrestrial, but also cable or satellite), had to have a TV rights contract.

The impression I get is that nobody in the United States cares about the event, and when informed of the presence of the Tomahawks team they think it a joke that a bunch of non-Americans make up the squad.

I also don't see the sport going anywhere in the USA anytime soon. Not sure why people are as obsessed with the place as they are - all seems a bit desperate and stalkerish tbh.

I never said it was huge from inception to demise. The NASL grew organically and with investment and obtained reasonable attendances for a fledgling sport. But the arrival of Pele in 1975 was a truly huge media event across the US and indeed the world. 10 million in the US alone watched his debut game - still an American TV record for 'soccer', and not an audience that can be achieved without interest in the game. It doesn't get much more high profile than that. The arrivals of other big names helped the momentum.

So, for a time it had massive exposure including a TV audience of 10 million, a record crowd of 77,691 (and many above 30,40,50 and 60,000) and some of the biggest names in football history (Pele, Cruyff, Best, Eusebio, Hurst, Moore, Banks, Carlos Alberto, Beckenbauer, Oscar, Muller...and plenty more). It appears that I was correct. High profile, big crowds and international stars.



Yes, after 8 good seasons it petered out eventually but the seeds had been planted and the main point is that 'soccer' has been played across the US in parks and schools ever since. I went to the US in 1989 and 1991 and saw 'soccer' being played in schools on the East Coast (Baltimore, New York and Washington iirc). There was an undercurrent of interest but no local teams for kids to follow as they do in the UK and nothing after High School.


No, it never will be the next NFL. American Football, Baseball and Basketball are ingrained in American society in a way almost unique to the US and nothing could supplant that. The best we could hope for is gradual growth with an increase in amateur and semi-pro leagues eventually. I doubt the game will ever get into schools but I fully agree there is an untapped opportunity for RL to develop into a thriving, if second-tier, sport - millions of athletic young men who suddenly have little or no contact sport open to them.

Well I hope the Austramericans enjoyed their visit to Liverpool today, spied their bus heading in

What RL does need is an end to what seems as petty squabbling in the US, 2 governing bodies does no favours to expansion, especially if it involves investement from the UK/Aus

That is the 1 st thing that needs doing

Are we talking two governing bodies in two separate states?

We must remember that 'soccer', given all of the funding physically possible, the best celebrity promotion possible (brand Beckham), franchises in all areas of the country, and given the World Cup in 1994, is STILL a sport that barely registers there with the general public. The USA could very well become a strong rugby league nation, and I really hope they will do, but rugby league will never become a strong sport in the USA. Well , at least it won't in my lifetime.