The New Haven Warriors were a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football team based in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, U.S. They played in the

American National Rugby League The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was a rugby league organization in the United States that operated from 1997 to 2014. The country's first domestic rugby league competition, it hosted an annual league from 1998 through 2013. Throughout it ...

(AMNRL) from 2006 to 2010 and in the

USA Rugby League The USA Rugby League (USARL) is the official governing body for rugby league, a code of rugby football, in the United States. The organization also runs the national amateur competition for club teams in the US. The league consists of six te ...

(USARL) from 2011 to 2012 before withdrawing. They played their home games at Ken Strong Stadium in

West Haven, Connecticut West Haven is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It is located on the coast of Long Island Sound. At the 2020 census, the population of the city was 55,584. History Settled in 1648, West Haven (then known as West Farms) ...

. The team was established in 2006 as an AMNRL

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

. In 2011 they became one of seven clubs that withdrew from the AMNRL to form the new USA Rugby League. The Warriors won the 2008 AMNRL Championship and made playoff appearances every year from 2006 to 2011, advancing to the AMNRL Grand Final in 2010 and the USARL Grand Final in 2011. They were named for the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

professional club the

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

of the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

History

AMNRL

The club was founded for the 2006 AMNRL season by Adam Hamon, Blair Wards, Chris Willey and Tony Feasey. The Warriors management later consisted of Adam Hamon (chairman), Brian Lee (Marketing and Sponsorship), Chris Yergan (Treasurer), Bill West and Ed Reed (IT), and executive committee members Tony Feasey, Siose Muliumu. In their debut AMNRL season the Warriors side had an impressive inaugural year finishing 5th and within the top tier bracket of the competition and qualifying for the playoff series; however, they would eventually be knocked out by the New York Knights in a close encounter that finished 26–22. In

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

the club again finished 5th and again faced the New York Knights in the playoffs to the final. This time they won 34–8 but were eliminated by their interstate rivals and eventual champions the Connecticut Wildcats in the semifinals 42–18. The Warriors earned the reputation as the most physical side in the AMNRL, and includes several Maori and Polynesian players from New Zealand. In 2008, the club won the Grand Final, beating the

Aston Bulls The Aston Bulls were a rugby league football team based in Aston Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The team played in the American National Rugby League (AMNRL), the United States' oldest competition, from 1998 until 2013. They were kno ...

50–18 at Fort Dix, New Jersey. They advanced through the semifinal by beating the Connecticut Wildcats 40–34.

USARL

On January 12, 2011, New Haven became one of seven teams to break away from the AMNRL and form the new

. After finishing fourth in the regular season and advancing to the playoffs, the Warriors achieved an upset win over the minor premiers Jacksonville Axemen to secure a championship final berth against the Philadelphia Fight. They were defeated by Philadelphia in the USARL's inaugural

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

. New Haven finished seventh of eight teams in 2012, missing the playoffs. They were initially announced as competing in 2013, but withdrew before the season, along with

Oneida FC Oneida FC (Oneida Football Club) is a soccer club based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The organisation was estabished in 2011 and plays its home games at East Boston Memorial Stadium, owned by the city of Boston. The field also hosts American footb ...

of Boston.

USARL season summaries

Uniform and colors

For their inaugural

season the club adopted the colors of navy blue, green and white stripe design characteristic of the old style vintage rugby league jerseys. The warriors later sport the reverse colors of their affiliate club, the New Zealand Warriors, who played in grey and black.New Haven Warriors Rugby League – New Haven CT Rugby
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Stadium

The Warriors home ground was Ken Strong Stadium at West Haven High School in

Statistics and records

Biggest winning margin Biggest losing margin Most points for the club Most points in a match

Honors

2006 - 1/4 finalists 2007 - semifinalists 2008 - Grand Final Winners 2009 - semifinalists * AMNRL Championship titles: 1 *2010 - Grand finalist runner up *2011 - Grand finalist runner up

References

External links

{{Rugby League in the USA 2006 establishments in Connecticut 2013 disestablishments in Connecticut American National Rugby League teams Defunct rugby league teams in the United States Defunct sports teams in Connecticut Rugby clubs established in 2006 Rugby league in Connecticut Warriors Sports clubs disestablished in 2013 USA Rugby League teams