‘Toughest game on earth' -- Australia's National Rugby League returns to Las Vegas
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Having another roll in Las Vegas this weekend is a long way from rugby league's first forays into selling the sport to Americans.
A grainy black-and-white newsreel of a bunch of college students in uniforms that covered them from the knees to wrists is stored in the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia under the title 'Yanks play rugby league, 1953.'
The U.S. roster for that tour to post-World War II Australia was organized by a wrestling promotor and included a Rhodes scholar on his way to Oxford and an Olympian.
The 13-a-side version of rugby didn't really get a lot of traction in America back then.
So now, National Rugby League organizers are using an NFL playbook to give Americans a taste of the game. They're taking the show to Las Vegas, for a second consecutive year, hoping it'll leave a greater legacy for the game.
Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V'Landys issued an invitation to President Donald Trump in a TV interview on Fox & Friends earlier this month.
'Mr. President, we want to introduce you to the toughest game on earth,' V'Landys said. 'We know you love physical, tough contact sports. There's no sport more brutal than rugby league.'
This year, V'Landys is bringing reinforcements. The NRL regular season openers at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday — featuring defending champion Penrith Panthers against Cronulla Sharks and Canberra Raiders against New Zealand Warriors — will be supplemented by a British Super League contest between Wigan and Warrington and a women's international between Australia and England.
There's also a talent combine being held to search for four U.S. players who might make the grade with an NRL club in Australia.
What is rugby league?
It shouldn't be confused with 15-a-side rugby union. A big rugby split happened in the early 1900s when players demanding compensation for injuries sustained during competitive games helped forge the modified game in Australia and northern England. It was the start of professional rugby league. Rugby union remained fully amateur until the mid-1990s.
The NRL describes the game as 'the fastest, most aggressive, ball-in-hand football game that exists.' All players are involved in offense and defense, there's no timeouts, no forward passes and the game is played on a 100-meter field across two 40-minute halves. No pads, no helmets, and plenty of contact.
The NRL put together a video explainer of the rules and regulations, with actor and NRL club owner Russell Crowe narrating. It starts out: 'Rugby league is football, but not as you know it.'
Last year in Vegas, the Manly Sea Eagles beat Crowe's South Sydney Rabbitohs 36-24 and Sydney Roosters beat the Brisbane Broncos 20-10 to open the 2024 NRL season.
The NRL has 17 clubs from the far north to the very south of Australia's east coast, as well as the Warriors, based in New Zealand. From 2028, those clubs will be joined by a team from the Pacific Island nation of Papua New Guinea, where rugby league is the national sport.
Famous export
Jordan Mailata played rugby league as a kid before switching to pursue a career in the NFL. He became the first player from Australia to start in and win the Super Bowl when he helped the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 on Feb. 9.
And speaking of exports, the NFL is returning the favor when it comes to introducing a live version of its game to Australia. During the Super Bowl in New Orleans, the league announced that it will be playing a game in 2026 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a venue that holds about 100,000 spectators. The Los Angeles Rams will be the home team for that game, part of a multi-year commitment to play in Melbourne.
Super League match brings in the Brits
Wigan is giving up a regular season home game to 'host' Warrington in Las Vegas. About 10,000 supporters of the two clubs are expected to be among up to 15,000 fans heading from Britain to the U.S. for the rugby league weekend.
The England-based Rugby League Commercial managing director Rhodri Jones said it's a good chance for the European clubs to join the Southern Hemisphere heavyweights to promote the game.
'New territory, NFL Super Bowl stadium, new fans, heightened media awareness --- all those bits create opportunities,' he told The Associated Press. 'This isn't going to conquer America for us. It's more of a marketing, commercial, audience funnel-growing project.'
So, what's the big appeal?
'The most ferocious field sport in the world,' Jones said. 'No pads, the speed, the agility, the skill level, the toughness of the players.'
Warrington Wolves player George Williams is 30 and he never expected to get the chance to play a showcase game like this.
'It's massive opportunity for Super League,' he said. 'As players, these are the games that you don't even think are going to happen. You've got to take it with both hands. Enjoy it -- on and off the field -- get amongst it.'
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