The storm is still raging over the decision to play a Test in Denver, Colorado right in the midst of rugby season in Australia and New Zealand.
This tempest came from Melbourne Storm Coach Craig Bellamy, who expressed consternation over the decision to upset the proper order of things when he said, “I’m not quite sure why they had this test at this time of the year.”
To the best of our knowledge, Bellamy has no objection to State of Origin, which supplies a similar disruption to play at the club level, albeit without the interstellar travel commitment.
Bellamy’s side will be on the road to play Friday night against the Sydney Roosters in Adelaide, which causes us to ponder a question to be put to Bellamy.
Which would you prefer, an NRL club in South Australia or one in the U.S.?
Adelaide is just a short hop from Melbourne and Sydney, but if the NRL were to open an expansion club there, it would be more or less business as usual.
If the NRL or Super Rugby League were to add a U.S. franchise, the money tap would be turned on full and coaches of Bellamy’s caliber could look forward to seven-figure contracts and a life of luxury beyond anyone’s wildest dreams of avarice. Other than the slow internet and preponderance of gun-toting maniacs armed with military-grade ordnance, the 20,000 which showed up for the New Zealand – England Test in Denver indicate a fertile opportunity.
Could U.S. professional rugby routinely provide those sorts of attendance figures?
Difficult to say, but in the not-so-distant past, no one with a grain of sense would have predicted Major League Soccer to last beyond three years, tops.
Bellamy has some valid concerns, including the whereabouts of his prop, Nelso Asofa-Solomona.
England got out of Denver on schedule, but the New Zealand flight was delayed to intense electrical storms in the region.
The headline could read, “Storm Prevents Storm Player for Playing for Storm Causing Bellamy to Storm.
Sydney has a similar issue, the availability of Isaac Liu and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves being uncertain, as players who made the trip must certainly be wondering what day it is.