Battle of the Americas comes to Sydney on Sept 30

@Julian_T4Sports

When the Liberty Cup - Battle of the Americas, was announced to the public a few months ago, Canada and USA Rugby League fans had the opportunity to vote for the name of the Canada and USA (CanAm) team.

The Liberty Cup is set to include several players with international experience from both the Canada Wolverines and USARL Hawks; including Ryan Burroughs and Sam Carson, who represented the USARL Hawks in the World Cup Qualifiers last year, Danny and Steve Howard, who both played for the USA in the 2013 World Cup as well as Scyler Dumas and Sean McInvoy who both played for the Canada Wolverines in the Ohana Cup in Hawaii against Fiji last month.

The inaugural clash will provide Wolverines and Hawks selectors great insights into the players who are also competing for spots on the USARL Hawks World Cup squad for 2017 as well as for other international matches, such as when the Wolverines' take on South Wales Scorpions in Toronto on October 15.

In what will be a first for USA and Canada Rugby League working together, the mascot of the Grizzly Bear is a perfect symbol that represents both nations, which has been affirmed by the CanAm Grizzlies and Canada Wolverines Head Coach, Aaron Zimmerle.

“North America is renowned for its rugged terrain, particularly with the Rocky mountains which stretch both the length of Canada and America.”

“An animal that lives within that rugged terrain is the Grizzly, which is a great symbol of strength and unity for North America and this unity has been typified with the players working together which resulted in the team name,” Zimmerle stated.

The players involved with the team put several options forward which were then pitched to the public to vote on, similarly the USA and Canadian players had an input into the design of the logo, including Sterling Wynn, who has come to Australia in 2016 from the Central Florida Warriors.

"CanAm Grizzlies! It'll be one to remember.”

“The name CanAm had a nice ring to it and made plenty of sense for why it was chosen by both countries since it mixes the two together and Grizzlies came out on top with great support from both the Canadian and American players,” Wynn said.

The entire team also helped in deciding the jersey design, with several ideas being pitched to them, the ideas slowly narrowed and the team came up with a final decision.

The jersey features a large portion of red and white to reflect colours that are significant in both USA and Canadian flags, as well as a blue strip across the chest as per the blue in the USA flag.

The team’s jersey will have the logos of the sponsors, being the major sponsor of Zibara Clothing and the back of jersey sponsor of Pioneer Shade Structures.

Throughout the entire process of getting to this stage it has been positive to see the USA and Canadian players working together to get to the final result, but it will be even better to see this teamwork on the field against the Latin Heat on September 30, 6.30pm at St Marys Leagues Stadium.

Click here to purchase tickets, which are just $5 each.