USA rugby
Another dreams dies as USA ambitions falter
ESPN Staff
June 7, 2013
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Fools Gold
Plans for the London Irish to meet a USA side in Boston in early August have been shelved, dealing a blow to an ambitious scheme to unveil a professional franchise-based competition in the States. The match between London Irish and a US Barbarians side in Boston was to have been televised by the NFL Network television channel with a return match in London a week later. Organisers said that it was hoped that a successful event would be used as a springboard to attract sponsors and investors to support an East Coast league of up to six franchises. But the venture has fallen not so much at the first hurdle but shortly after the starting line. "It is regrettable that we were unable to stage the game this year to help with the development of professional rugby in the USA," said Premiership Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty. "Ultimately satisfactory negotiations were not able to be completed in time for an August game. We shall continue to look at the US for future development as the potential is clear." While the organisers insisted they had the financial agreements in place they were not optimistic they had enough time to sell tickets and it was clear that the predictions of a 30,000 crowd were increasingly unrealistic, even in Boston with its large ex-pat Irish community. Nor, it seems, were the investors in place for anything other than a one-off game. Another test of the appeal of rugby in the USA will happen this weekend when the Eagles take on the Irish side in Houston with an expectation that a crowd of around 20,000 will attend. © ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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