The New York Raiders were an American

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

football team based in

Congers, New York Congers is a suburban hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Valley Cottage, east of New City, across Lake DeForest, south of Haverstraw, and west of the ...

. The team played in the

American National Rugby League The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was the national governing body for rugby league in the United States from 1997 to 2014. The organization was responsible for running the domestic club competitions and the United States national rug ...

(AMNRL) from 2002 to 2013, when the AMNRL folded its domestic competition. The team originated as the Wilmington Vikings of

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

, who joined the AMNRL as the league's first

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 2002. Afterward the club experienced a series of moves and name changes; they relocated to

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in 2003, becoming the New Jersey Vikings, then moved again after the season to

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

, taking the name Northern Raiders. In 2010 they adopted their current name. They made their first national playoff appearance in 2011 with the help of Dan Fullerton, Matt Vautin, Lesili Alovili, Rob Ploth, Phil Giuliano

History

The team joined the

in 2002 as the Wilmington Vikings, based in

. The AMNRL's first real

, they brought the number of member franchises up to six. Like the other AMNRL teams, they started a team partnership with a club in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

(NRL), in this case the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

. They played in Wilmington for one season before relocating to

Gloucester County, New Jersey Gloucester County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the county was the state's List of counties in New Jersey, 14th-most populous county

in December 2002, changing their name to the New Jersey Vikings. They hoped the move would help them draw talent from

Gloucester County College Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) is a public university, public community college with two campuses in the South Jersey region of New Jersey. The first, Gloucester Main Campus, is in Sewell, New Jersey, Sewell. The second, Cumberland Branc ...

to overcome the recruitment problems they had faced in Delaware. Physician Merrick Wetzler took over as owner. The move did not end the team's recruitment troubles, and following the 2003 season they relocated once more to

. In keeping with their partnership with the Canberra Raiders, they changed their name to the Northern Raiders. For the 2006 season they attempted to turn their losing record around, taking on Australian

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

Ben Kelly; however, they just failed to qualify for the AMNRL playoff series. For a period they were based in Wallkill in

Ulster County, New York Ulster County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston, ...

, and play their home games at the Wallkill Airport Rugby Fields. In 2011 they relocated to

and play in

Rockland Lake State Park Rockland Lake State Park is a state park located in the hamlets of Congers and Valley Cottage in the eastern part of the Town of Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States. The park is located on a ridge of Hook Mountain above t ...

Uniform and colors

For their inaugural

season the club adopted the colors of white, green and black but the uniforms they wear are predominantly white they have kept this uniform till this day. They are also part of an affiliate partnership with Australian NRL club the

. In 2010, the club, along with other AMNRL teams, adopted a new badge, replacing the one that had been modeled after that of the Canberra Raiders. File:Northern Raiders.png, Until 2010 File:Northern Raiders logo.jpg, Initially for 2010 File:New york raiders amnrl2010.jpg, 2010–2013

Honors

* AMNRL Championship titles: 0 ::

Official sponsors

As announced in 2008 the main shirt sponsor for the then Northern Raiders RLFC became online accommodation specialists

Wotif.com Wotif is a website that provides a reservation service for hotels in Australia and international destinations across the globe. It was set up in March 2000 by Graeme Wood in Brisbane, Australia. It has since established offices in Canada, Malay ...

References

External links