The 2022 NARL season will start on May 21. This will be the inaugural season of the NARL. There are also exciting plans with the league beyond 2022.
2022 NARL season starts on May 21
We’ll be sharing more over the next few weeks. Let’s go 2022! #NARL #NArugbyleague pic.twitter.com/qqUELX6wYw
— North American Rugby League (@NARugbyLeague) November 22, 2021
The 2022 NARL season will start on May 21. The league will start with six teams next year. Five of them are known, likely being the Toronto Wolfpack, Cleveland Rugby League, Atlanta Rhinos, and DC Cavalry. It seems like the league will play all their games in one week in one market. They will then do the same with the other markets in the league.
The fifth market will be in New York City. However, the New York Freedom pulled out of the league on November 19. The NARL must have found a way to bring a New York City team. The biggest mystery is the name and city of the sixth team. This is what the NARL said about that:
The 6th market will be announced in the next few weeks!
— North American Rugby League (@NARugbyLeague) November 22, 2021
What this sixth market will be no one knows. However, it is best to assume that it will be on the Eastern side of North America. So that rules out all the possible Western cities in North America for next year. Unfortunately, for people wondering, it looks like the Ottawa Aces XIII has moved on from the NARL. They have relocated to Cornwall and immediately deactivated their social media accounts.
Maybe they can look at having a team in Florida. Major League Rugby has not expanded to Florida as of right now and that could be a place to start for the NARL. According to Tim Baines of the Ottawa Sun, Atlantic Canada and Montreal have been targeted by the league. Would also not exclude Canada’s capital from this list. This is because when this article was published, the Aces still existed. The most likely place to have a team though is the state of Carolina. According to Carolina Lightning’s Facebook account, Lightning has applied for a NARL franchise.
The ambitions of the NARL
One of the things that are admirable about this league and the CCCRL is the plan to have a pro women’s sports league. This is something that people should not take for granted. There are other startup leagues that do not plan to have leagues of both genders. This is also quite significant as the professional game in women’s rugby league is not as established as men’s rugby league. Having a league could propel both the women’s national teams of both Canada and the U.S. to new heights.
Also, the NARL plans to add six more teams in 2023. Where these cities will be no one knows, it is great though, that the NARL has ambitions to grow their league to have even more teams. However, the most important point is that the season is set to begin next year. Getting that season to happen will bring more credibility to the NARL. It will get the league into a more positive light than it is right now.
Toronto Wolfpack Canada Cup 2022 coming soon.
After the success of the inaugural 2021 Canada Cup we will be hosting a 4 team event in May 2022.
Further details including the teams and schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.
Your Toronto Wolfpack is Here To Stay! pic.twitter.com/tBlvxJAPf4
— Toronto Wolfpack (@TOwolfpack) November 1, 2021
Most importantly though is that the league will start on May 21 with six teams starting with New York City. The sixth team should also be announced soon. Expect a lot of exciting announcements to be announced shortly. It is unclear though if the Canada Cup is separate or part of the 2022 NARL season.
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