The Cleveland Rugby League are an American

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

rugby league football club based in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. They were a founding member of the new

North American Rugby League The North American Rugby League (NARL) was an unsanctioned rugby league club competition in North America. At launch, the league announced fourteen teams; twelve from United States and two from Canada. An inaugural season was planned for 202 ...

that formed in 2021, but failed to launch. Currently the club runs as a USARL independent.

History

Founding, NARL and First match (2018 - 2021)

The Cleveland Rugby League team were first established in 2018 by

Toronto Wolfpack Toronto Wolfpack RLFC is a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club is the first and only professional rugby league club in North America, and as of 2023 competes in the self sponsored Canada Cup, an invitation ...

trialist, Monte Gaddis. Initially they planned to start the Midwest Rugby League Conference where they would play a

rugby league 9s Rugby league nines (or simply nines) is a version of rugby league football played with nine players on each side. The game is substantially the same as full rugby league, with some differences in rules and shorter games. Nines is usually played i ...

game against the Chicago Stockyarders. Cleveland's first match was against

USA Rugby League The USA Rugby League (formally the US Association of Rugby League, Inc.) is the national governing body for rugby league in the United States. The organization is responsible for running the domestic club competitions and the United State ...

club, the

Northern Virginia Eagles The Northern Virginia Eagles were a rugby league team based in Manassas, Virginia, U.S. The club currently plays in the USA Rugby League (USARL). From 2007 to 2011 they were known as the Fairfax Eagles and were based in nearby Fairfax, Virginia. ...

. On 31 March 2021 it was announced a new professional

competition with 14 teams taking part, including Cleveland Rugby League. Cleveland played one exhibition team against the

Atlanta Rhinos The Atlanta Rhinos are an American Rugby League team based in Atlanta, Georgia. 2014 was their inaugural season in the USA Rugby League. They play all their home games at Atlanta Silverbacks Park. History 2014-2020: Foundations and USARL Atl ...

before the competition folded. On 19 April 2021 it was announced that experienced Australian coach Glenn Morrison had been appointed as Director of Rugby; Morrison has previously been head coach at

Dewsbury Rams The Dewsbury Rams are a professional rugby league club based in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England that compete in RFL League 1, League One, the third tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. History 1875–1887: Dewsbury Athl ...

, in the

RFL Championship The Rugby Football League Championship, (known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second highest division of rugby league in British rugby league system, Britain (with one team in the league also being based in France) ...

and the Jamaican national team.

Post-NARL, Outlaws and present day (2022 - present)

In 2023, Cleveland introduced a women's team known as the Cleveland Outlaws. In April of that year, both teams would play a cross border club friendly versus ORL Champions, Toronto City Saints and Ontario Ospreys. The event was titled, "Battle of the Great Lakes" and played at

Baldwin Wallace University Baldwin Wallace University (BW) is a private university in Berea, Ohio, United States. Established in 1845 as Baldwin Institute by Methodist businessman John Baldwin, it merged with nearby German Wallace College in 1913 to become Baldwin-Wallace ...

's George Finnie Stadium. Cleveland scored early tries to lead 14–12 at the half time but Toronto would rally to a 34–22 victory. As for the Outlaws, they would be defeated by the Ospreys with a score of 64–0. The men's side would go on to participate in 2023 USARL Naples Nines, finishing 8th of 12 teams, afterwards they would also participate in the Cleveland Beach 5s, a beach rugby tournament hosted by Cleveland Crusaders RUFC. CRL Men's would finish 5th, repeating the result from 2022. In 2024, Outlaws partnered with regional side Midwest Rouge Runners. The ladies would play a friendly against Ontario Ospreys at York University, falling 30–22 after being ahead for periods of the match.

Current Squad

The list of the Men's side are from matches including Battle of the Great Lakes versus Toronto City and Naples Nines. Flags of Nationality are next to the players' names. (''as of May 20, 2023'')

References

External links

* {{Ohio Sports Rugby league teams in the United States Rugby clubs established in 2018 2018 establishments in Ohio Sports clubs and teams in Cleveland USA Rugby League teams Proposed sports clubs and teams