As a partnership between the English Super League (SL) and Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) looks to be nearing completion, Rugby League Planet thought it would be interesting to get the thoughts of executives elsewhere on a hypothetical spinoff of any final deal. What if the agreement included a provision that clubs in the United Kingdom were to add players from other countries, for example those in the Americas, at no cost to the clubs?
That way, players from Canada, the USA, Jamaica, Chile and others, could play in Super League. There hasn’t been any mention of this kind of option in discussions between the two leagues, but we asked some executives if they thought it could be doable, and if so, how would it benefit the game in their countries? The Director of Rugby with Jamaica Rugby League, Romeo Monteith, said he thinks there could be some benefits.
“Any movement by the professional game to open doors for athletes in the Americas would be welcomed,” he said. “We saw the buzz created when the Toronto Wolfpack signed three amateurs from Canada, USA and Jamaica. “As it is, there is no realistic pathway for domestic Jamaican players into the professional game in the UK or Australia. We would love to see change.
“Ultimately, stakeholders in the Americas should work together to attract partners and create our own semi-pro competitions to advance the game.” Another executive with thoughts on whether it might be possible to have Super League clubs bring in overseas players is Rugby League British Columbia President, Josh Knight. However, he has a slightly different take on it.
“The amount of talented athletes across the Americas is immense, but the ancient argument on why they aren’t good at Rugby League is the same across the globe but intensifies in strong economic countries due to the amount of professional sports available as well as the popularity of these sports,” Knight said. “So therefore, for me, the question isn’t ‘is it possible?’ but ‘how can we as administrators be able to grow the game well enough that players can make it in the Super League or RFL as a legitimate pathway to professional Rugby League?’”
“For me, Canadians play hockey, which is the easiest transferable game to Rugby League (more than Union) because League features one-on-one battles and toughness. Therefore, with a strong awareness and growth of the game in Canada, we can easily get players to England. But the question will be will they be good enough?” Knight also suggested something completely different as a means of growing the game.
“I think the better idea is investment in an American League titled ‘NRL Americas.’ Unlike the failing MLR, Rugby League is an easier sell to North Americans with less rules, less down time and more action. Wolfpack proved that point. TWP was reinvigorating Torontonian sports fans with the product, not the history of the clubs (that came later). TWP fans cared about the game, not that they played Bradford
Bulls with 163 years of history, which would probably be a more important feature in the Super League. I would estimate that 20% of the TWP fans were Rugby Union people who made the transition to watching league and 80% were brand new to the sport and actually believed that what they were watching was this so-called ‘rugby’ they had heard of.
“Therefore, we weren’t converting rusted on Union fans, we were helping people discover a sport that is way easier to understand than Union and giving a celebrated city a team to support. This is easily achieved on the back of American patriotism in their own cities. American sport fans just need to watch Rugby League and love their city and the competition will succeed. Vegas has gained more and more local fans coming to watch the spectacle, we need to make sure that these people get to watch Rugby League week in, week out supporting their own professional team in their own city.”
The head coach of Chile’s men’s national team, Rod Millar, said he can see the NRL’s potential buy into Super League could hypothetically benefit nations in the Americas, but he’d need to see more information on the mechanics of such a provision before signing off on it.
“If there was a provision for UK clubs to add players at no cost, would that be salary cap issues, or costs of flights, accommodation and food for these hypothetically selected players? I do believe that it could be possible and would support the overall idea, however, it would be good to see a little bit more detail to see how this would work.”
We have been hearing the ‘grow the game’ mantra for years now, yet the reality is that not much has actually been done in that regard outside of Australia and Great Britain, so this would seem to be an opportune time to take some initial steps towards that end goal. Perhaps executives within the NRL and SL could explore options along the lines as suggested above.
