The Kings are here and they’re #READYTOREIGN
Rugby league is constantly branching out all over the USA and finally, there is a chance for players to get involved in the Big Apple as the Brooklyn Kings look to make a name for themselves in the USARL competition.
Led by CEO Matthew Bailey, the Kings have made huge strides over the past few months in creating not only a club, but a brand that people can get behind. They have a clear mission in mind and that is to ‘provide Brooklyn and the greater New York City metro area with the opportunity to play, spectate and engage in the sport of rugby league.’ However, they are not putting a limit on where they can end up and have a greater vision to ‘build the Brooklyn Kings as a prominent sport/entertainment brand and to become the premier Rugby property in the USA.’
The Kings are heavily focused on recruiting young, talented American athletes with a view that growing interest and home grown players will help to benefit the club, and the game, in the long run. Bailey stated that it didn’t take long for the players to gel and are less like teammates and more like brothers; battling for each other every single practise and every single game. This is definitely evident in the games played so far in which they fought to a tie with the Rhode Island Rebellion before getting the better of the established Boston 13s outfit in only the Kings’ second competitive fixture.
Growing a brand always comes with its challenges and for the Kings it was in the form of sponsorship acquisition, however, with persistence this came and for now the challenge is to find more off the field help to assist with backroom duties and game day operations. However, if the Kings keep up the standard of the performances seen so far, the help and fans are sure to keep piling in.
The club has found local sponsors in the form of Sixpoint Brewery and the Savory Pie Guy and have also started to gain a following in the UK thanks to ex-NRL and Super League star; and now the Head Coach of the Kings, Nick Youngquest. Youngquest, whom you may know from the Paco Rabanne ‘Invictus’ commercials, has helped the Kings to form a partnership with his former club, the UK based Super League side, the Castleford Tigers. There is a hope that Tigers fans will be able to watch the Kings via a live stream in the near future and this partnership looks set to grow the Kings brand in the UK. The Tigers CEO, Steve Gill hopes that this partnership will eventually see a New York bred player pulling on the black and amber of Castleford and with the rate of growth that the USARL is showing, this dream may become a reality sooner than first thought.
The Kings have managed to bring David Fauonuku, who played for the New South Wales Universities Representatives team in Australia, and Daniel Sandell-Hey, who played first grade local league in Perth, to add that extra star quality to the side. The hope is that these two natives of the game will be able to teach the dedicated, raw US talent to turn the Kings into a true force to be reckoned with in the USARL competition.
The Kings, with their ‘Ready to Reign’ mantra, hope this year will see the brand go from strength to strength both on and off the field and having seen their memberships packages sold in Australia, New Zealand and Dubai the sky is the limit for this club just starting out in the city where dreams are made.