The well-publicised Australia day match up between Super League champions Leeds Rhinos and Russell Crowe’s South Sydney Rabbitohs has been heralded as a huge success by the local press in Jacksonville.
Aside from a hefty 12,500 people cramming into the stadium despite the poor weather, the real success of the match has to have been the press coverage of the game before, during and after the match.
Jacksonville.com, the major online press outlet for a city with twice the population of Manchester, continues to provide great exposure days after the game with photos from the match sitting alongside articles on the local primaries for the US Presidential election. The site also covered the game with an excellent match report from Francine King who, rather than trying to focus on the particulars of the match, covers the occasion at a breakneck speed reminiscent of the game it seems the Americans saw.
It has been talked about many a time how the US, although vast in size, could take to the sport. Rugby league is fast, it has high scores and it is brutal - key features behind leading North American sports such as Ice Hockey and American Football - everything that sports such as football and rugby union fail to be. And, although the appearance and work of ambassador Russell Crowe had more than a little to do with the big attendance, it is a massive kick in the right direction, and one that will help the regular tenants of the ground - Jacksonville Axemen - attract a few more people when their third AMNRL campaign kicks off in June.
Of course, the real work begins now.
Photo by Bob Self, from www.jacksonville.com (usage policy)
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