USARL - B13's

With the still fairly recent news on USARL being granted the "sole National Federation of Rugby League"  , there was still some questions i still wanted, and im sure some of you out there wanted to know going forward. so i decided to reach out to one of the founding members the Boston 13's.I am truly excited for the recent development and very much look forward to the 2015 season and the National Team matches going forward, i also hope that going forward the League code begins to expand westward and we can begin to see the development of Rugby Union and League flourish in this country.

LLR- There is a time table to have the USARL as full members of the RLIF by 2016 and criteria that has to be met, what exactly is it that USARL must meet?

Boston 13’s- Looking at the criteria on the RLIF website (http://www.rlif.com/about-rlif/membership_criteria) the items that I assume we are still working towards are as follows:

-                   -500 registered participants (We must already be very close to this if we haven’t already achieved it)

-                  -Junior & Schools competitions

-                   -Accredited coach education scheme

-                  -Accredited referee education scheme

LLR- How about the next world cup, will USA have to go through the same qualification to participate?

Boston 13’s- In August the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) announced the qualification  details for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC). While we don’t have the full details about qualification, we do know that one team from the Americas will play in the RLWC. I’d anticipate that would be a qualification series between the US, Canada & Jamaica. All 3 nations have good domestic competitions and access to heritage players so it should be a great competition as the 2013 RLWC qualifiers were which saw the US face Jamaica and South Africa.

LLR- What everyone wants to know, what of the Tomahawks, will USARL still use the same name or essentially create a new National Team and will that team consists of more American based players?

Boston 13’s- That’s a big question on the name and one that I don’t have an answer to right now although there has been rumors that the Tomahawks name and branding is owned by a third party which might make the decision for the USARL. With regards to the team, I think it’s safe to say there will be more domestic players included going forward.

LLR- Will we see more National Team games being played going forward compared to the usual colonial cups games with Canada and just World Cup qualifications.

Boston 13’s- With the USARL just recently being accredited by the RLIF there are lots of things that will be resolved in the coming months. The national team schedule is obviously one of them but I think the rivalry with Canada is certainly here to stay. We owe them big time after the Colonial Cup game in August 2014 where an understrength USA team got beat 52-14.

LLR- Are there any AMNRL teams that has reached out to join USARL

Boston 13’s- There were five that applied right before the 2014 season but logistics meant it was too late to make it happen for 2014. I very much hope that they all applied again for 2015. I know some that have for sure.

LLR-  What headlines can we expect from the League and governing body in the coming months leading up to the start of the 2015 season.

Boston 13’s- Well hopefully you recently saw that Leeds Rhinos are holding a training camp in Florida in January and will play a game versus the USA Pioneers in Jan 11^th. You’ll certainly see announcements about new teams for 2015 as well as the competition schedule. There are also things that are being worked on that can’t be released just yet but stay tuned to www.usarugbyleague.com as well as the individual club websites for up to date information.