THE US REPORT

Soon I’m sure you’ll be seeing news clips of Joan Rivers appearing on the British show Loose Women,  a near cousin to The View in the US, calling Russell Crowe some pretty bad names, including dropping the f-bomb,  resulting in her being censored (commonly known as bleeped.) After the break Rivers didn’t return to the show. She seemed surprised. Well, it just so happens I’ve met Russell Crowe, via an event arranged by Jacksonville Axemen coach Spinner Howland (photo below) and Rivers' description of the actor is so far off I can’t help but wonder what she did wrong when she met him. And I didn't exactly make a great impression on him myself. At first.

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The Barrons Brewing Jacksonville Axemen topped the Philadelphia Fight in an opener for Season 11 for the two American National Rugby League teams held at West Chester University in Pennsylvania on Saturday, finishing up with an impressive 36-8 score. Calling it a “solid win,” JaxAxe coach Spinner Howland said despite heavy rain, his team controlled much of the ball in the first half. “The Fight came out in the second half like a new team,” he explained. But in the end, Jacksonville emerged victorious. A full account of the game is featured at the JaxAxe website. The Axemen travel to New York City June 14 to face the New York Knights.

Spinner works tirelessly on expanding the team brand and fans in the US are catching on to a game that delivers excitement through continual play and nonstop action. After the January Australia Day Challenge success, the Axemen jersey has been changed slightly he says, “to pay tribute to the Leeds Rhinos and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. We’ve changed the blue to match that of the Rhinos and added a small green strip to match the Rabbitohs.” Jacksonville fans are still talking about the exciting game that not only drew locals, but drew scores of celebs from around the world with more than 12,000 fans packing UNF Hodges Stadium.

The team chose Southwest Airlines as official air partner for the 2008 season. “With direct flights to many of the airports we fly to for away games and the incredible service during the Australia Day Challenge,” Spinner said, “we are extremely happy to be flying Southwest.”

JaxAxe will add cheerleaders this season, and open tryouts for the Vivid Images Jacksonville Axe Maidens will take place at Bailey’s Gym [ San Jose Blvd.] on June 11 at 7:30 p.m. For more info email JaxAxeMaidens@hotmail.com or visit the Maidens’ MySpace page.

To stay current about the Jacksonville Axemen, bookmark the team’s official website. This season holds lots of promise and excitement will surely follow!

[Filed by Kay B. Day; photo of JaxAxe vs. Philadelphia from last year’s game, courtesy of the Jacksonville Axemen.]

   Jacksonville, Florida, hosted a premier match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Leeds Rhinos at the University of North Florida  in January. I bird dogged the story at Covering Florida. One of my readers, Matthew Brown, struck up an email correspondence with me. Brown has kindly sent news of teams abroad and often explained terms to me. A sell-out crowd attended the January match hosted by the Jacksonville Axemen. As the popularity of rugby league grows in the US, we’ll keep you updated with developments and schedules. Matthew sent me this story and photos and we’re sharing it with our readers. Rugby League most definitely rocks! If you have a chance to see a game, believe me, you owe it to yourself to go. As many of my readers know, I am crazy for rugby league. Part of my enthusiasm is due to generous fans like Matthew and to the spirit and honor of the players, different in so many ways than some American sports.

(Gold Coast—Australia; by Matthew Brown)  The Brisbane Broncos faced the Gold Coast Titans at Skilled Park at Robina on April 18.  The Gold Coast is Australia’s 7th largest city, with 500,000 people, while Brisbane, 100km North, is our 3rd largest city with 1.8 million people.

This game is one of the big local derbies of Australian sport, and the game was a sellout of 27,000 people on the Coast, which was quite good because it rained all week.

It was my first visit to Skilled Park, which only opened this year and I was very impressed, even though it’s half the size of Brisbane’s home ground (the roof is made of canvas!).

The Coast ended up beating us 24-22, but that flattered Brisbane a bit and they thoroughly deserved the win.  However I did feel like yelling at the guy behind me who wouldn’t stop swearing (I had my little 10-year-old sister with me). But all in all it was a good night and we didn’t get too wet!

The atmosphere was amazing. The Gold Coast Titans were only admitted into the National Rugby League last year, but you'd think they'd been there for 10 years from the amount of merchandise. They've got a very good management team.

Recently, Sports Business Daily announced a new ESPN deal with Rugby Super League. Continuing its trend of picking up broadband rights to niche sports for U.S. audiences, ESPN signed a deal with the RSL for its broadband service ESPN360.com. Coverage began with the RSL Grand Final between St. Helens and the Leeds Rhinos. Starting in the '08 season, the service will offer 60 Super League matches and 20 minor league games, both live and on replay. The league, which is primarily based in Britain with a team in France, plays its regular season from February to September.  [Story and Photo by Matthew Brown. Brown is studying Environmental Management at Griffith University, Queensland leader for environmental science/management, Asian studies (Brown notes: “we do live in Asia after all”) and the arts. It includes the Queensland College of Art and Queensland Conservatorium.]
 
Ed. note: For information about US rugby league teams, visit the website of the American National Rugby League. For more information about my favorite US team, the Jacksonville Axemen, visit the JaxAxe site. Season begins in May.