| Short Name: | New York R.L.F.C. |
| Colours: | Purple, orange and white |
| Ground: | TBC |
| Season: | 2022 |
New York Rugby League Football Club was a proposed rugby league football club in the North American Rugby League. The league and club folded in 2022.
It was first reported in October 2017 that a New York consortium were seeking to join the Rugby Football League's League 1 in 2019.[1] Earlier in 2017, Canadian side Toronto Wolfpack became the first transatlantic team to join the league.
On May 20, 2019, the Rugby Football League released a statement on the two prospective overseas clubs. Ottawa had been accepted in principle to join League 1 in 2020 while New York had a change in ownership structure and was encouraged to work toward entry in 2021 instead.[2] [3]
In March 2020, it was confirmed that the Ottawa Aces would be accepted for entry to RFL League 1 for the 2021 season, it was decided that adding 2 North American teams to a semi professional league would add extra pressure to current teams. So New York City Rugby League was planned to enter into the Challenge Cup for the 2022 season.[4] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ottawa Aces inclusion into the RFL League 1 was delayed until 2022, it is now likely that a New York addition will be further postponed for the time being.[5]
In April 2021, the clubs social media accounts were handed over to New York Freedom, a new franchise that was to be a founder member of the North American Rugby League. However in November 2021, the Freedom announced on their website that they would not be taking part in the NARL.[6]
The original New York City Rugby League RFL bid team is now to join the NARL as a foundation club alongside Atlanta Rhinos, Cleveland, Toronto Wolfpack and Washington DC Cavalry.[7]