By TERRY LIBEROPOULOS
THE third season of the five-year Las Vegas experiment has come and gone and while it is a fantastic trip for supporters and a junket for clubs and officials, the NRL needs to start looking at their own back yard.
I was there last year and almost the entire attendance at Allegiant Stadium were those from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. I tried to track down any spectators with American accents and those I found were there because a partner, friend or colleague was an expat and had convinced them to come to the game. The truth they told me was that it was a weekend getaway to Las Vegas that convinced to come.
The NRL has declared that they are in their best financial position, announcing a surplus of $64.8 million that has taken the game’s balance sheet to $387.2 million. That’s a fantastic achievement considering the game was almost broke when Covid-19 hit in 2020.
When the Las Vegas extravaganza concludes, the NRL is looking at hosting a global round to kick-off the season with Tokyo, Abu Dhabi, London and Hong Kong being looked at. And to do that means outlaying plenty of money. You have to fly teams out to these cities – first class of course – accommodation, food, transfers, training facilities, match venues, staff and insurance.
The place that the NRL should be going is London and other areas of the United Kingdom and France, countries that already play rugby league.
There has been talk that the NRL should invest in the English Super League and that is exactly what they need to do.
They would be better off opening the season with matches in London, Manchester, Paris and Avignon. They could also look at games in Wales, Scotland and Ireland with a view of the game growing in those countries and help give them a more competitive international team.
France has been playing rugby league since 1934 and the game needs them to return as an international power, which they were back in the 1950s and 1960s.
They currently have Toulouse and Catalans playing in Super League but there is no reason it has to stop with them. Having a team in Paris and Avignon makes sense and would give the game in France a more national look instead of it being focused in the south of the nation.
Paris St Germain had a team in the Super League when it kicked off in 1996 but were missing two years later. They experienced a number of problems but we surely have learned from those mistakes and another attempt can be made. Especially if it is being driven by the NRL.
Avignon has shown in the past it is a rugby league town and would no doubt support a team in the Super League.
Having more teams from France in the Super League would no doubt allow more French players to play at a higher level and the hope would be that it would give their international team the opportunity to be more competitive.
Many people would argue that the Catalans Dragons have been around since 2006 and it hasn’t improved the national team. Firstly, it is only one team instead of three or four and they have used many overseas players.
Each of the four French clubs would have a restriction of seven overseas players meaning that 40 or more French players would be playing in the elite competition every week. And that means there are players fighting for a spot in the Test matches instead of the usual suspects who know they will be there because of a lack of other top-class candidates.
Staging NRL matches in London and Manchester would help give rugby league some great advertising and hopefully attract new sponsors and supporters to the game. And with Super League at the doorstop, they can immediately go and watch a game live while at the same time watch the NRL on television or on streaming services.
Having games in Wales, Scotland and Ireland would increase the awareness and possibly get a Welsh team back in the Super League while a team from Scotland and Ireland could be involved in the second tier English Championship.
It could also give anyone from Wales, Ireland and Scotland the opportunity to try rugby league and eventually play in Super League, even if it is with an English team.
What that means is that it gives the nations like Wales, Ireland and Scotland the opportunity to be more competitive and allow the Northern Hemisphere to have a strong international presence that would also include England and France.
This has already has happened in the Southern Hemisphere with Tonga and Samoa now able to match it with the likes of Australia and New Zealand while the introduction of the PNG Chiefs can only benefit Papua New Guinea.
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