Japan would be a tough nut to crack. They are an established rugby union market, with the top clubs funded by huge multinational businesses and pulling in top players from the southern hemisphere nations.

China and Russia would potentially be more realistic, although the Chinese sporting legacy tends to be in individual sports rather than team ones.

There was the start of something bubbling away in China back in 2012. They even had a website, which has now disappeared. While no longer active they still have a Facebook Page www.facebook.com/ChineseRL/ There is also an active RL movement happening in Hong Kong. https://www.facebook.com/hkrugbyleague/ and www.hongkongrugbyleague.com

There was the start of something bubbling away in China back in 2012. They even had a website, which has now disappeared. While no longer active they still have a Facebook Page www.facebook.com/ChineseRL/ There is also an active RL movement happening in Hong Kong. https://www.facebook.com/hkrugbyleague/ and www.hongkongrugbyleague.com

With RU 7's becoming an Olympic sport it's going to make expansion into new countries much harder, any "rugby" funding is going to go that way first.

Notwithstanding Hong Kong's Rugby League ambitions, there has been some further growth in Thailand and the Philippines which may help Japan with some regional competition. There are a lot of promising seeds out there, it's going to be down to how the RLEF/RLIF and the global fanbase as a whole nurture those seeds.

I'd hope that there would be some on-demand or live streaming deals with companies in the various areas which would assist in getting footage out onto social media. The demographic for capturing young players has changed, we're no longer beholden to the monoliths of the TV and the papers. Get it trending on Twitter & Facebook with supporting Instagram and Snapchat shots. This is a chance for RL to get ahead in the new publicity and revenue streams from the net; kids these days stream it onto their phones and screen cast it if needed. If anything showed that it was the U19's Commonwealth 9's.

Hmmm not sure I agree with that. Kids stream and watch what is popular. Most kids don't even know RL exists and won't be looking for RL. They also generally don't watch things like sports matches in that fashion. They might watch a specific incident if it's funny or exceptional in some way but they're very unlikely to sit there and watch an RL game or a 9's comp just because it's available to stream somewhere.
And things that trend on Twitter are generally big stories that the mainstream media (usually TV) are showing.

TV is still the way to get to people. Plus we don't want to get to kids just yet in these areas. We need adults, the people with the money, to recognise the game. The kids come after that.

By kids I was meaning young adults, people 17+ of playing age, but I take your points. Social media has been instrumental in getting interest over here due to the lack of TV coverage and can quite categorically say that it has created enough interest to take potential players to complete games on YouTube and such.

A TV deal would be a definite longer term goal, but short and medium term for emerging nations live and on-demand streaming is the best option in getting footage out there. Quite honestly I'd rather have people who get interested enough to try out having watched some highlights or jumped on some Twitter hot plays. It's not necessarily about what the mainstream is showing, it's about getting interest out amongst the players' social groups. It's the incremental growth driven through word of mouth and social media which is making the difference.

What helps us then is people in the traditional heartlands taking an interest, watching the games online, sharing with their circles and such. The demand has to start somewhere.

Maybe a good way of expanding is to target countries that don't really have a major summer team sport. Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Serbia, where RL is already on the up.

Does it include new coaching staff for the England team?

The chinese aren't really bothered about team sports, the only one they like is basketball.

Thats not particularly true, Football for example has a gigantic following in China. Both internationally and more recently domestically.

Rugby League needs to capture the imagination of the Chinese people, and it needs to do it before Union or American Football decide to make a move.

Just came across this article from August: rugbyleagueweek.com.au/rugby-lea ... se-market/

Just came across this article from August: rugbyleagueweek.com.au/rugby-lea ... se-market/

Soccer in china is taking off. I wouldn't say rugby is flying in Japan - I heard a rumour from very strong sources that Japan RU were about to put out announce that their Super Rugby franchise will not be competing next year....then all of a sudden their national side beat the Springboks and all of a sudden they found a lease of life from somewhere.

I would love it if the NRL can achieve with PNG what SL has with Catalans.

m.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/34769880 This is not good for rugby league in the states.

m.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/34769880 This is not good for rugby league in the states.

From what I understand, the competition is going to be called the Super Pro Rugby League, or something similar. It definitely includes "rugby league" in the competition title, despite it being a union competition.