The North American Rugby League (NARL) is an unsanctioned

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

club competition in

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. At launch, the league announced fourteen teams; twelve from United States and two from Canada. An inaugural season was planned for 2021 but was deferred until 2022 due to increased health and safety needs regarding COVID-19 and insurance and travel costs. The league will now launch with six foundation teams, five from the United States and former professional

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

member club

Toronto Wolfpack The Toronto Wolfpack are a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario, who compete in the North American Rugby League. The club originally competed in the British rugby league system but withdrew in the 2020 Super Leagu ...

from Canada. The first season was supposed to kick off on May 21, 2022, but failed to do so.

History

Background

An American based rugby league competition was first established in 1998 when the American NRL was formed. The organisation ran the AMNRL league competition and organised the USA national team and their fixtures. This competition lasted for 13 years until seven clubs left to form the

USARL The USA Rugby League (USARL) is the official governing body for rugby league, a code of rugby football, in the United States. The organization also runs the national amateur competition for club teams in the US. The league consists of six te ...

, citing the poor running of the competition as their reason for a breakaway. The USARL was founded in 2011, however the AMNRL was still active, meaning there were two major rugby league competitions in the US. The AMNRL suffered from competition with the USARL and did not run a competition in 2013. The following year the AMNRL folded and handed over all control of the USA national team to the USARL making it the sole governing body and league competition in the US.

2016–2020: North American clubs in Britain

In 2016,

were founded and entered the British RFL system in League 1. They were promoted to

in 2019, however withdrew after seven rounds in 2020 following financial problems due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and were not readmitted for the 2021 season. The demise of Toronto and a report by then-Super League chief executive

Robert Elstone Robert Colin Elstone (born 6 February 1964) is a British businessman. He attended the University of Hull and is a qualified accountant. He was originally a financial controller at a Barnsley-based lead-processing plant but later became an Exe ...

saying there were no opportunities for rugby league in North America left doubts over transatlantic teams competing in the British rugby league system. However, the RFL later admitted

Ottawa Aces Cornwall R.L.F.C. is an English professional sports, professional rugby league team based in Penryn, Cornwall, Penryn, Cornwall. They will play their home matches at Penryn RFC's Memorial Ground. History 2019–20: Ottawa Aces It was first ...

and New York Rugby League. Ottawa, however, later relocated to the UK as

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. New York's future in the UK remains unclear.

2021: COVID-19 postponement

In March 2021 the North American Rugby League was announced and slated to include 14 founding teams: the two clubs previously accepted into the RFL (

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

) as well as

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and recently formed

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, along with three

clubs (

Atlanta Rhinos The Atlanta Rhinos are an American professional rugby league team based in Atlanta, Georgia. 2014 was their inaugural season in the USA Rugby League. Starting in 2021, the club turned professional, and became founding members of the North Amer ...

Boston Thirteens The Boston Thirteens (officially written as Boston 13s RLFC) are a professional rugby league football team based in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. The team previously played in the USA Rugby League, before turning fully professional in 2021 and bec ...

, and Brooklyn Kings), a former rugby union club, and six new clubs (Austin Armadillos, Las Vegas Blackjacks, Phoenix Venom, Portland Loggers, San Diego Swell, San Francisco Rush, and Washington D.C. Cavalry. In April 2021, USARL issued a statement that NARL is not recognized or sanctioned by USARL (as the governing body for rugby league in the USA) and therefore anyone playing in the NARL was ineligible to play at international level. The inaugural season was due to start on June 19, 2021, with Boston hosting the first four Eastern Conference games and Las Vegas hosting the Western Conference games on June 20, with all games to be streamed globally on SportsFlick. There are plans for clubs to

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

14 players who will be signed centrally by the NARL. On May 12, the league announced that the Western Conference would be postponed to 2022 as the teams were unable to arrange adequate insurance for the players. On June 7, 2021, Robert Curtis, the league's chief operating officer, announced that competition would be suspended until 2022 due to cost issues and health and safety restrictions relating to COVID-19. Some friendly matches will be played and the Canada Cup will be contested by Toronto Wolfpack and Ottawa Aces. Following the announcement of the league's suspension, USARL issued a statement that all NARL teams and players would be welcome to join USARL for the 2021 season. The league has partnered with Italian sportswear company Macron, who will provide kits to all teams in the competition. In October 2021, the Ottawa Aces announced their relocation back to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, where they had been originally formed, opting out of the NARL. The league announced in late 2021 that it intends to launch with just 6 foundation clubs in spring 2022, 5 from the United States plus

from Canada. The Canada Cup went ahead for 2021 but DC Cavalry took Ottawa's places following the latter's relocation to Cornwall. The match was won by Toronto.

2022: Inaugural season

After an announcement for the 2022 season to start on May 21 followed by uncertainty, it was announced a day before on the NARL social media pages the expected kick off that there will be a pre-season trial on June 4 between Washington D.C. Cavalry and the

. Atlanta won the match 34-24. In July 2022, Cleveland Rugby League withdrew from the competition, leaving it with four teams. The competition ran from September to October.

Teams

The 4 confirmed foundation clubs are:https://narugbyleague.tv/ *

* New York R.L.F.C. *

DC Cavalry DC, D.C., D/C, Dc, or dc may refer to: Places * Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia), the capital and the federal territory of the United States * Bogotá, Distrito Capital, the capital city of Colombia * Dubai City, as distinct from t ...

Future teams

The league initially announced 14 founding clubs in 2021 before delaying the initial season to 2022 and shrinking the inaugural competition to 4 clubs. With the exception of the

, who opted out of NARL plans and relocated to

in the

in late 2021, the announced clubs not included in the 2022 season schedule are expected to join the league at future dates to be determined. These clubs are: * Cleveland R.L.F.C. *

Austin Armadillos The North American Rugby League (NARL) is an unsanctioned rugby league club competition in North America. At launch, the league announced fourteen teams; twelve from United States and two from Canada. An inaugural season was planned for 2021 ...

Boston 13s The Boston Thirteens (officially written as Boston 13s RLFC) are a professional rugby league football team based in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. The team previously played in the USA Rugby League, before turning fully professional in 2021 and bec ...

* Brooklyn Kings *

Las Vegas Blackjacks The North American Rugby League (NARL) is an unsanctioned rugby league club competition in North America. At launch, the league announced fourteen teams; twelve from United States and two from Canada. An inaugural season was planned for 2021 ...

Phoenix Venom The North American Rugby League (NARL) is an unsanctioned rugby league club competition in North America. At launch, the league announced fourteen teams; twelve from United States and two from Canada. An inaugural season was planned for 2021 ...

Portland Loggers The Portland Loggers were a professional American football team based in Portland, Oregon. They were members of the Continental Football League and only lasted one year. Featuring much of the roster of the defunct Orange County Ramblers, the team ...

San Diego Swell The North American Rugby League (NARL) is an unsanctioned rugby league club competition in North America. At launch, the league announced fourteen teams; twelve from United States and two from Canada. An inaugural season was planned for 2021 ...

* San Francisco Rush

Seasons

Finals

NARL Grand Finals

Canada Cup Finals

References

External links

* {{Top sport leagues in the United States 2021 establishments in the United States Sports leagues established in 2021 Rugby league competitions in Canada Rugby league competitions in the United States Professional sports leagues in Canada Professional sports leagues in the United States Multi-national professional sports leagues Proposed sports leagues