Now we know where and when the six teams will be playing.
The inaugural season will last from 22 March to 14 June, comprising 30 matches, home and away.
The venues:
Bay Breakers – Grape Bowl Stadium, Lodi
Boston Banshees – Veterans Memorial Stadium and Tidewater Landing Stadium
Chicago Tempest – Martin Stadium, NW University
Denver Onyx – Infinity Park, Glendale
New York Exiles – Memorial Field Stadium, Mount Vernon
TC Gemini – TCO Stadium, Eagan
Most of the arenas house around 5,000 spectators and use artificial turf. Infinity Park (a dedicated rugby ground with turf) may be best known to international rugby fans, as it hosted the ground- breaking Eagles v Barbarians match in 2019. I suspect Jasmine Joyce helped herself to four tries that day.
Matches will be played exclusively at weekends, with the occasional Friday evening kick-off thrown in.
The finish in mid-June leaves ten weeks before the World Cup starts. I sense that Sione Fukofuka will be calling his chosen Eagles squad away well before then. That will affect some teams more than others, Denver Onyx in particular. Even rosters as large as 29 could feel the pinch. It’s a question of close collaboration.
The weekly pace of competiton will be of great benefit to players who have known only the amateur WPL in the past. This marks an important step forward for American rugby, so all the best!
Unsurprisingly, a number of the stadiums play host to football (US variety), so it will be interesting to see whether the curators are more successful than many of their British counterparts in erasing one set of white markings for another. Gridiron life could get confusing otherwise.
One immediate query from a fan concerned online coverage. As yet, I fear, no reply from the authorities. But that is an ongoing concern right around the world of women’s rugby. In WER’s case, few fans nationwide are going to live close enough to get to matches in person. Local publicity will be vital, but it will be shouting into a crowded market.
Plenty of adjustments and additions may happen over the next month. The English PWR final happens conveniently on 16 March, so – who knows? – we may yet see new faces appearing on team-sheets. Is that permitted?
