PERTH BEARS, who will join the NRL competition in 2027, have said that they would be happy to play some games in Singapore, which is in the same time zone as the west coast of Australia and is three hours behind Sydney.
The new club’s chief executive Anthony De Ceglie, who is a former editor-and-chief of West Australian Newspapers, believes such a move would consolidate the NRL’s position in the Australian and Asian sporting market.
“We are in a very different time zone to Sydney and Melbourne,” De Ceglie told the Australian publication City AM.
“We are in the economic Asian powerhouse time zone and that’s really handy for us.
“I’d love to take the NRL to Singapore; it could be the Perth version of Las Vegas. There’s so many opportunities because of the time zone of Perth, not just into the east coast market, because it means we can play that late game, but also taking the game into Asia could be huge.”
Singapore Rugby League founder Dane Campbell is also the Bears’ recruitment manager.
In November Singapore defeated the Philippines, 62-0 in the final of the Asian Championships at International School Manila.
Singapore Rugby League is now planning to establish a six-team domestic competition, while Campbell believes the interest generated by winning the inaugural Asian Championships could be a catalyst for the city state to become regular hosts of the World Club Challenge.
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