Hello

[AmericanTitan]

I have lurked these forums for a while trying to keep tabs on the Titans.

A friend of mine who lives in Melbourne is a rather large Manly Sea Eagles fan and he told me about NRL and how many American Football fans seem to enjoy the game. I took his word for it and checked it out.

Let me tell you, it's a little tough to watch live games, but I do my best to watch every game either live or through torrents. Needless to say, it's easy to avoid the scores of games I am not able to catch live. :-)

I'm still trying to learn on the specific parts to the game, but I've come a long ways since I first started watching. Hopefully posting here will allow me to learn even more about a VERY fun game.


Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself and say Go Titans from across the pacific!

[Tamwelg]

Hi there and welcome aboard. Nice to have some international support for the game of Rugby League and for the Titans. You can catch all Rugby League match replays at http://bigpondvideo.com/ you may need to have an Australian IP address though, but there ways around this if you know what you are doing.

[AmericanTitan]

thanks, Big Pond is where I've been able to catch the Saturday Night(my time) Sunday afternoon (your time) games live.

There is another site I've visted that posts torrents of the games and that is how I watched the Titans vs Souths.

I never thought I'd get as excited about NRL as I was getting even though I knew the game was just a video. I purposefully avoided the score.

After the Souths got up late I figured we were sunk.

Then Princey's golden toes won the game :-)

[DIEHARD]

AmericanTitan you are a champion. A real Rugby League fan.

Loved to hear your story about getting into Rugby League. I have a few American friends that I have introduced Rugby League too as well.

We all dream of having Rugby League being played in the USA at a high level.

At the moment we are reforming the Australian Rugby League/National Rugby League and I believe this will flow on to International Rugby League.

I hope this means more instances of things such like the Kangaroos (Our elite national team) playing the USA Tomahawks and Russell Crowe's South Sydney Rabbitohs playing Leeds Rhinos in the USA. And of course better support and development of Rugby League in the USA.

The World Cup has now expanded to 14 teams, so the USA has a real chance of qualifying.

But best of all it is awesome to think we have such passionate Titans fan in the USA. And it is ironic that a fan from Melbourne introduced you to Rugby League as Melbourne isn't Rugby League heartland.

But why did you choose the Gold Coast Titans as your team? And who is your favourite player?

[AmericanTitan]

thank you for the kind words DIEHARD.

To further elaborate on how I got into NRL and specifically the Titans, well, it was mostly by chance.

My friend the Manly fan told me about NRL just after the Titans had formed (Northern Hemisphere Spring of 2007) and honestly I wasn't all that into it. I just thought he was a crazy Aussie into a crazy Aussie sport.


A short time later I decided I'd take a little more interest. At that point, I chose the Titans as my side, mostly because they were the new kids on the block and I loved the look of the uniforms. I cheered on from a distance not taking such a deep interest until a season or so later.

After I picked the Titans as my team I decided to take a look at the roster and try to learn some names. Right off the bat I saw a name that caught my eye. The name? Scott Prince. And right away Scotty Prince became my favorite player. My friend explained to me the #7 meant he was like the quarterback on the field.

By explaining things in American Football terms my friend has helped me learn more and more about League and I am very grateful for it. He even bought me a Titans football that says "That's My Team" on it. It was awesome! I can't imagine the shipping from Australia to Lincoln, Nebraska!


Thank you again for the warm welcome!

[DIEHARD]

Your friend sounds like such a champion rugby league fan. We really love our game over here. And also something I believe is kinda unique in our sport compared to others is fans from other clubs seem to get on very well, because we feel like one rugby league family.

At the South Sydney vs Gold Coast Titans game we had a big fan of the Wests Tigers cheering with us and I said next time I was in Sydney I will try and join him at a Wests Tigers game.

Our colours are fantastic. I think everyone loves them and they make for great merchandise and jerseys. They also greatly appeal to children and women which means we have a great mix of fans.

We are are the new kids on the block but it is stunning to think... this is our fourth season! Time for a Premiership. This year the rest of the NRL will fear the Titans.

[AmericanTitan]

hey Diehard-

what online store would you suggest if I were looking to find some Titans gear.

I found one site called "Goodscore" and they have some nice looking stuff it appears. I'm a bigger guy, probably looking for 3X and the Titans store doesn't have much in the way of the big sizes.

Any other good NRL stores out there?

[DIEHARD]

Hey mate!

http://www.whatsyourteam.com.au

are a good Queensland based store.

The best RL store in Sydney is....

http://www.rugbyleaguestore.com.au/

I got a mail ordered Gold Coast Dolphins jersey off them back in the day. 2005. The Dolphins was the original name of the GCNRL Bid Team before we switched to Titans. Pretty much cause the Queensland Cup side the Redcliffe Dolphins had issues with it. It worked out in the end, I also bought a Titans jersey off them last year and they did me a good deal.

[DIEHARD]

Dont write off the Titans Shop though. http://shop.titans.com.au/ecommerce.php

Ill grab you an email. Seening as there isnt one on the site. Im sure we go higher than 2XL.

[Sydney Titans Fanatic]

great to see the titans expanding overseas hopefully well take over the tenasee titans one day

[AmericanTitan]

great to see the titans expanding overseas hopefully well take over the tenasee titans one day

Thanks.

It really is a credit to you diehard NRL fans in Australia that myself and others here in the States have grown to love the game.

Great job to all of you NRL fans for spreading the word and creating awareness!

[Sydney Titans Fanatic]

maybe you can convert people over in the u.s to rugby league and the titans, would be awsome to have an american based rugby league team in the world cup...

[AmericanTitan]

maybe you can convert people over in the u.s to rugby league and the titans, would be awsome to have an american based rugby league team in the world cup...

hopefully the Tomahawks can actually do something soon. Alls they can do is keep improving. From what I've heard they actually gave you guys a good run some time recently?

I know the AMNRL just released their schedule, but they play all their games on the east coast and no where near Nebraska.

I've been throwing around the idea of writing Russell Crowe about bringing the Bunnies to Kansas City (about 3 hours from where I live) and play the Titans there.