Former St George halfback David Niu became a rugby league pioneer in the United States after meeting his future wife on an end-of-season trip to Hawaii in 1991, relocating to Philadelphia and working tirelessly to establish the code as a player, coach and administrator.
Among his many initiatives and achievements, few were more memorable than the staging of a historic international between USA and Australia in Niu’s adopted home city in 2004.
With the support of NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley and Kangaroos coach Wayne Bennett, Niu’s pipedream became a reality – but there were a multitude of hoops to jump through.
“Graham, some officials with the Australian team and I had to try and find a venue,” Niu tells Big League.
“Originally we wanted to play it in New York, so we went to Yankee Stadium – which was out of reach in terms of cost – and Central Park, but that was too difficult in terms of logistics. A lot of rich people there didn’t want a game of rugby league in the middle of their park.
Eventually, Niu opted to go closer to home: Franklin Field, the former home of the Philadelphia Eagles on the edge of the University of Pennsylvania’s campus.
“It was just this magnificent old 55,000 [capacity] horseshoe stadium,” Niu recalls.
“There was a lot of support – things that I hadn’t been used to normally – then just putting the [USA] team together, the performance of the team and the response to it, it was just mind-blowing. We still talk about it.”
Coached by John Cartwright – then a Sydney Roosters and NSW Origin assistant – USA’s headliners were Parramatta cult hero winger Matt Petersen and ex-Magpies, Roosters and Raiders centre Brandon Costin (then with Huddersfield), paired in the halves. The remainder of the Tomahawks’ squad was predominantly made of players from teams like the Philadelphia Fight, Connecticut Wildcats and Washington DC Slayers.
But the Kangaroos were just three days removed from their 44-4 Tri Nations final demolition of Great Britain in Leeds…and it showed.
A team boasting modern greats Darren Lockyer, Brett Kimmorley, Anthony Minichiello, Brent Tate, Nathan Hindmarsh, Willie Mason, Ben Kennedy and Petero Civoniceva incomprehensibly found themselves 24-6 down at halftime to their amateur hosts.
On a synthetic grass field with gridiron posts and field markings, Petersen and Costin were among the tryscorers in front of the 4,500-strong crowd, while speedster Nate Smith nabbed a sensational intercept try.
“It was kind of unbelievable,” Niu said.
“We’ve got a little podcast over here now called the Rugby League Rat Pack, myself and a bunch of guys who were actually involved in that game, former teammates.
“One of them took an intercept at 24-6 but dropped the ball. I think if he scored under the poles, it might have been a bridge too far for the Aussies at 30-6. I don’t know whether they could have come back.”
Staring down the barrel of an embarrassing defeat, Australia clicked into gear after the break. The deficit was erased by the hour mark, before a rampaging Mason put the Kangaroos in front for the first time from a scrum win and Matt Bowen sealed a 36-24 result with his third try.
But there could be no argument that the contest provided a moral victory for the Tomahawks. The match’s legacy can be measured by the fact that just nine years later, USA qualified for its maiden World Cup and performed well enough to play Australia in the quarterfinals (a 62-0 loss).
“Every year we get that group back together to come to Vegas,” Niu says.
“John Cartwright was there with the Broncos in the first year of the NRL’s Vegas event.”
