Talking Footy

Just came across this. Catalans Dragons are playing Wigan at the home of Barcelona FC in Spain. 30k tickets already sold with the game still weeks away and Barcelona FC yet to start their marketing campaign of the game.

This has a lot to do with the Catalan people who live in southern France and northern Spain. Great initiative.

Excellent news
Rl is growing overseas.not rapidly but it's growing
Looks like a great crowd will attend .
I'm wondering what the biggest AFl crowd overseas is with two non Australian teams playing. Neither in their home country . I'd say the crowd would be 13 plus maybe a few dogs walking through the park .

Super League and Betfred have today announced the biggest commercial deal in the history of the competition by extending their partnership for a further two seasons.
The multi-million-pound investment by Betfred, owned by Rugby League fan and Salfordian Fred Done, will see the current three-year partnership extended until the end of the 2021 season.

News of the record-breaking deal comes at a time when Betfred Super League is enjoying huge popularity. Last weekend saw the record attendance for a Super League fixture broken when 31,555 people saw the Catalans Dragons overcome Wigan Warriors in a historic first ever Rugby League game at the iconic Nou Camp in Barcelona. This followed a record-breaking aggregate round attendance over the Easter Weekend, when 78,917 fans attended Super League Round 11 fixtures.


Read more at https://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2019 ... GWHgJx5.99

Yep posted about the game in Spain .
Slowly getting more interest( small is better than none) across Europe

Great Effort can only get better>>
loving how the French and Canadians are spreading the great game

It's quite an achievement to get two club teams from two different countries playing a game in another country which has had little interest in RL .
Other small international sports would love to be able to do that .

Yes it’s a great effort.

great things are happening in the North of the World..

NRL needs to get there thinking caps on>>

hopefully the news is BRIGHT for the Future view of the game in December

AFL has always got China!

(ENGLISH RUGBY LEAGUE SHOULD REALLY LOOK TO FTA FOR THE GRAND FINAL)

SUPER LEAGUE RECORD

Grand Final sees record TV Audience
The 2019 Betfred Super League Grand Final has set a new Super League record for live TV audience since its inception in 1996.

The number of people who watched the game live on Sky Sports Main Event and Arena was 43% higher than the same game in 2018 between Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors.

The new record follows a significant upward curve in live TV audiences over the last 10 weeks of the season which included the final day relegation battle and Play-Offs which had seen a 11% growth in live audience compared to the 2018 season.

The audience for Saturday’s match beat the live TV audience recorded for Semi Final 2 between Wigan Warriors and Salford Red Devils the week before which had been the number 1 ranked game of the 2019 season.

Robert Elstone, CEO of Super League said: "This is significant news for Super League, and news we are obviously delighted with.

"The Grand Final on Saturday has been labelled as ‘one of the very best’ and it is fantastic to see a record live TV audience have witnessed our showpiece event.

"Congratulations to Salford Red Devils, and our new champions St Helens, on delivering such a compelling match, and to Sky Sports for producing a superb programme which encapsulated the best of Super League both on and off the field.’

Rob Webster, Managing Director of Sky Sports said: "We've enjoyed being able to produce and cover a thrilling season of Super League capped by a fantastic final at Old Trafford.

"For the first time we also brought the women's final live on Sky Sports making it an amazing weekend for the sport in every way.

"Our customers were hooked until the final whistle on a terrific season."

https://www.superleague.co.uk/article/1 ... gue-record

Excellent news

Eric Perez unveils 2021 League 1 expansion team >>>> Ottawa Aces Joining ENGLISH LEAGUE 1 in 2021

RUGBY league’s second trans-Atlantic expansion team will be known as the Ottawa Aces with black and red their colours, it was announced at a media conference today.

Team chairman Eric Perez, the founder of the Toronto Wolfpack, was joined by RFL chairman Simon Johnson, British High Commissioner Susan Jane le Jeune d’Allegeershecque and Ontario minister for culture, sport and tourism Lisa MacLeod for the launch at TD Place sports complex.

Perez said that aside from fielding a team in the RFL’s League 1 next year, the Aces would set up an academy for Canadians which would produce players for other clubs as well as the new franchise.

“It’s a massive day for sports in the National Capital Region, in Ontario and Quebec, and in Canada as a whole,” said Perez, who timed the launch to coincide with Commonwealth Day.

“By approving our relocation to Ottawa the RFL has shown a firm commitment to advancing rugby league in Canada. We hope to build a sustainable legacy of winning, and some shiny silverware to TD Place Stadium.

“We’re starting in 2021, we’ll be in League 1 – just like the Toronto Wolfpack started in 2017 in League 1.

https://rugbyleaguehub.com/2020/03/09/l ... tawa-aces/

leeroy*NRL* wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:26 pm

Eric Perez unveils 2021 League 1 expansion team >>>> Ottawa Aces Joining ENGLISH LEAGUE 1 in 2021

RUGBY league’s second trans-Atlantic expansion team will be known as the Ottawa Aces with black and red their colours, it was announced at a media conference today.

Team chairman Eric Perez, the founder of the Toronto Wolfpack, was joined by RFL chairman Simon Johnson, British High Commissioner Susan Jane le Jeune d’Allegeershecque and Ontario minister for culture, sport and tourism Lisa MacLeod for the launch at TD Place sports complex.

Perez said that aside from fielding a team in the RFL’s League 1 next year, the Aces would set up an academy for Canadians which would produce players for other clubs as well as the new franchise.

“It’s a massive day for sports in the National Capital Region, in Ontario and Quebec, and in Canada as a whole,” said Perez, who timed the launch to coincide with Commonwealth Day.

“By approving our relocation to Ottawa the RFL has shown a firm commitment to advancing rugby league in Canada. We hope to build a sustainable legacy of winning, and some shiny silverware to TD Place Stadium.

“We’re starting in 2021, we’ll be in League 1 – just like the Toronto Wolfpack started in 2017 in League 1.

https://rugbyleaguehub.com/2020/03/09/l ... tawa-aces/

All sounds good but geez the Wolfpack are struggling in Superleague. They haven't won a match and had 60+ points put on 'em last week. Let's hope their benefactor David Argyle has deep pockets and doesn't get bored with losing or dropping out of the Superleague after one year.

true point,

but usually happens with all teams making the leap to Super League.
from championship.

none have seemed to cement spot.


there been competitive bar 1 or 2 games.
back to Championship and build grassroots

(hard playing first 10 games away.)

Just on OP - didn't Rugby League start in England? So how is it expanding there lol. Rugby League in Australia is an expansion of the game yes?