Professional RL comes to North America
LINK: https://www.narugbyleague.com
New North American league will include Ottawa, Toronto teams
https://ottawasun.com/
In a shocking turn of events, the Ottawa Aces and Toronto Wolfpack will be part of the new 14-team North American Rugby League, which was introduced Wednesday.
Twelve teams from the U.S. will play in the new league this season, with the Aces and the Wolfpack joining full-time in 2022. The Aces and Wolfpack will play a Canada Cup competition against each other later this year.
The Aces were supposed to enter European-based Rugby Football League’s Betfred League 1 this year. Because of complications related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Aces had postponed their entry into the transatlantic league for a year. The Aces haven’t given up on League 1, but were quick to jump on an offer to join the North American league. The Aces are still exploring ways to play in RFL. It’s possible sometime in the future they could field a couple of teams, with some player crossover – one in RFL, the other in the NARL.
“With RFL, there are questions,” said Aces president Eric Perez. “When are we going to travel over there? It could happen next year … or the year after. Right now, that’s in flux. This league is not in flux.”
The Wolfpack was kicked out of the RFL’s Super League late last year. But the team will push ahead funded by a private investor group which has purchased its intellectual assets. There is no connection to the previous ownership group.
Teams from across the U.S. will compete in two conferences —the East Coast Conference with the Atlanta Rhinos, Boston Thirteens, Brooklyn Kings, Cleveland Rugby League, New York Rugby League and Washington Cavalry and the West Coast Conference with the Austin Armadillos, Las Vegas Blackjacks, Phoenix Venom, Portland Loggers, San Diego Swell and San Francisco Rush. The NARL will play its first round of games on June 19 in Brooklyn and June 20 in Las Vegas. Due to COVID-19 regulations, games will be played in a single-venue style that will see all teams in their respective conference play in one stadium on one day, with no fans.
“I’m delighted to introduce the North America Rugby League to rugby league fans around the world in what we firmly believe is the next big evolutionary step for Rugby League,” said Robert Curtis, the NARL head of operations. “The NARL is the culmination of years of research and market testing and has been designed to bring you the hardest hitting, fastest and most exciting sport on the planet. It’s time to get excited about a new class of contact sport.”
Perez said he was contacted by the new league in late December.
“We weren’t looking for this, they came to us and wanted us in,” said Perez. “There was no hesitation when they told me the business plan, the cities involved, the commercial deals they’re putting together. They’re going to be a big player.”
Perez hailed the birth of the league as “revolutionary” for the sport.
“This is the biggest thing that’s happened to rugby in North America,” he said. “To this point, the Wolfpack (to Super League) had been the biggest thing. This has taken over. It’s a proper professional league in real markets and hopefully we’ll be the best team in it. I think this could rival Super League very soon. Within five to 10 years, we could be the best rugby league in the northern hemisphere.
“(The Aces) launched (last March) and two days later the world was engulfed in coronavirus. All sports stopped. Our entire existence has been during the pandemic. The fact this is able to happen during that is big. It ensures our future stability. I knew if I stuck with this thing, it’d be worth it.”
The NARL is hoping to add to its Canadian content, hoping for future expansion into areas like Montreal, Vancouver and somewhere in Atlantic Canada.
While the two Canadian sides won’t enter the East Coast Conference until 2022, they will begin building rosters in the next few months, with a Canada Cup competition – maybe in August at TD Place – with no fans.
Said Perez: “Why even mess around wondering if we can have a crowd or not? Let’s just do it without fans. It’s really more an opportunity for us to pick our team.”
Of the Aces’ 25-man squad, 15-18 players could be Canadians. There will also be a few elite international players.
“Seventy-five per cent of our team will be Canadian, hopefully most of them will be local,” said Perez. “That was something that wasn’t going to happen with the RFL team. This is an opportunity for local guys. We couldn’t have played many locals the other way around. I think people in Ottawa will love this, it’s huge.”
“We want to see the sport really take root across Canada and are determined to help showcase Canadian athletic and sporting talent on the field in an effort to do so,” said Aces GM Gareth Reid. “We will be picking up our recruitment efforts immediately and want to make Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec a major hotbed of Canadian Rugby League and talent development.”
Aces head coach Laurent Frayssinous will head to Ottawa in time for the team’s tryouts, which could be in July. Players will be chosen, then the coach will work with them leading into the Canada Cup against the Wolfpack.
“I am very excited to see the expansion of the sport,” said Frayssinous. “The North American sporting market is immense. We have seen big crowds to watch professional Rugby League in Canada and no doubt they will continue to grow. I am really looking forward to identifying and working with some exceptional athletes for this new and exciting project.”
