BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

If we can all agree on one thing it is that the NRL sure like to do their “due diligence” before committing to taking rugby league on the road.

We have been promised premiership matches in Los Angeles, a Test match on Anzac Day in Turkey and State of Origin blockbusters from Auckland to Singapore.

Some of these ideas were years in the making – so many lost hours planning and proposing before they become faint whispers and lost memories.

Here are some of the games that never came to fruition.

Raiders versus Manly in China
With the backing of respective sponsors Kaspersky and Huawei, Canberra and Manly-Warringah agreed to take a 2014 NRL competition match to 60,000-seat Shenzhen Stadium (just around the corner from Huawei’s head office). Meetings dragged on between 2013 and into 2014 and eventually … it just never happened. “Kaspersky, Huawei, the Raiders and Manly have done everything they can, now it’s up to the NRL to see how committed they are,” a Huawei employee said at the time. The NRL weren’t that committed after all.

The NRL in Hawaii
An exhibition fixture that would have seen Brisbane and Penrith clash at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu was even approved by the Hawaiian government who were prepared to hand over a multi-million dollar grant to host the game. The match would have been played two weeks after the 2015 NRL grand final. Brisbane, however, went on a run to the premiership-decider which forced the RLPA to intervene over safety concerns for the players.

Rivals Wests Tigers then pushed forward with plans to do something similar against St George Illawarra but that too was axed – this time because Australian broadcasters weren’t interested in covering it.

‘Round Zero’ in USA
Talk of the town in 2018 was that the NRL was going to open the following premiership season with a competition game in Los Angeles, California. Russell Crowe’s South Sydney Rabbitohs were expected to play the Melbourne Storm.

“The club and the football department are really keen to see this game happen,” Storm chairman Bart Campbell told The Australian at the time. After more than six months of working on the proposal, the NRL put it in the ‘too hard’ basket and too ‘financially risky’.

Australia versus Toronto Wolfpack
So this one wasn’t really the NRL’s fault but we’ll throw it in anyway because it didn’t matter what side of the world you were on, Toronto Wolfpack was on everyone’s lips at one point. The Canadian club made history by qualifying for the English Super League and had signed up multi-time premiership-winner Sonny Bill Williams – making him the richest player in either of the rugby codes. It was then announced that the mighty Australian Kangaroos would begin their 2020 tour of Europe with a stop in Canada and a showdown against the Wolfpack in front of around 20,000 fans. But then the world was thrown into chaos when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The tour was off with Toronto subsequently booted from the Super League.

Australia versus NZ @ Gallipoli
This would have been something to behold if it did get off the ground. The Australians versus New Zealand in Gallipoli on Anzac Day! In 2011, it was reported that wheels were in motion to take a game to Istanbul for 2015. Discussions between the ARL, NRL and the NZRL went as far back as 2009 with proposals sent to both the Australian and Turkish governments. The Anzac Day centenary came and went and no rugby league was played.

State of Origin in Auckland
Auckland emerged as a potential Origin suitor when the historic first match in Adelaide almost didn’t happen due to COVID last year. It would have been the first Origin match in 33 years played outside of Australia (a fourth Origin was held in LA in 1987).

State of Origin at Wembley
Public support for an Origin blockbuster at London’s Wembley Stadium started to gain momentum a few years ago. ‘’In the next five years I would saying to the British Rugby League we want to take State of Origin to Wembley Stadium. Matty Johns speaking on Triple M: “Let’s do Magic Weekend. You guys (English officials) organise it, on the Saturday you play all your games, and on the Sunday night at Wembley Stadium – State of Origin football.”

State of Origin in Singapore
Yep, even Singapore has been discussed as a potential home for the interstate series. Todd Greenberg confirmed in 2017 that government officials from Singapore had been “very engaged” about hosting a game.

2025 World Cup in North America
Of the fifteen tournaments since its inception in 1954, the Rugby League World Cup has bounced and forth between the United Kingdom and Australasia. That was set to change with the announcement of the 2025 World Cup to be held in the United States and Canada. Then it all came crashing down when the promoters were hit with financial problems. There has been some recent talk that the ’25 World Cup could be held in multiple locations (including the USA) mirroring football’s Euros.

@woodward_curtis