Rugby players in Australia and other parts of the Asia-Pacific actually perform everything an NFL player would without padding or helmets.
The NFL is aware of this and acknowledges it. In order to create convincing sports teenagers in the Asia-Pacific region and grow into college and professional prospects, it is looking to expand its international research for talent by opening an academy in Australia.
Following selection camps taking area this summer in Australia and New Zealand, the group announced on Thursday that the NFL Academy would be opened in September for student players between the ages of 12 and 18 following reports that the group would start accepting applications for the program.
Back of the , NFL Draft, the announcement identifies rich talent for as Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata, a 6- foot- 8 Australian who was deemed , also great for rugby in his first career in his hometown Sydney.
Australian- born Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata ( 68 ) after an NFL football game against the New York Giants, on Jan. 8, 2024, in East Rutherford, N. J. By opening an academy in rugby-mad Australia to train promising teenagers from the Asia-Pacific region into college and professional prospects, the NFL will expand its international search for talent.  , ( AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, File )
Football has changed my life, and starting an NFL Academy in Australia will undoubtedly help many more young people change theirs, Mailata said in the league announcement.
Mailata, who underwent the league’s” International Player Pathway program,” will be announcing the Eagles ‘ first-round draft selection on the state of Queensland on the Gold Coast.
According to AP reports,” The Asia-Pacific region is rich in sporting talent, and I look forward to seeing the next generation of football players develop their own path to playing in the NFL in the years to come.”
The NFL has a history of recruiting from Australia.
Colin Scotts, a former American football player and the first from Down Under to receive an American football scholarship in the United States and be selected for the National Football League ( NFL ), is a former Australian international football player.
File/Australian Colin Scotts, chosen to play American Football with the St. Louis Cardinals, in Sydney for a brief visit before he goes back to the U. S. to start the NFL season. June 05, 1987. ( David Porter/Fairfax Media via Getty Images ).
After Colin Ridgeway, an Australian rules football convert, he became the second Australian to play in the NFL. Scotts became a household name as an Australian schoolboy rugby player who won the championship.
He played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Cardinals, and Houston Oilers before being introduced to the NFL through his college football program at the University of Hawaii.
According to AP, the first recruitment camp for the new academy is scheduled for June 29 at A. B. Paterson College.
A second is July 6 in Sydney followed by an Aug. 24 camp in Auckland, New Zealand.
The NFL Academy program is a significant league initiative that is leading global football development efforts, according to Brett Gosper, head of Europe and APAC for the NFL.
” We look forward to bringing the program to Gold Coast, Australia, and ensuring that international talent has authentic pathway to success, giving more young people from the Asia-Pacific region the chance to play the game in the years to come.”
Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers square off at Stadium Australia in Sydney on August 8, 1999, in a fight between the National Football League ( NFL ) teams. In front of a nearly capacity crowd in the 110, 000 seat stadium, this Broncos and Chargers pre-season game was the first NFL game to be played in Australia. ( WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images )
South of the equator is another source of raw talent for the NFL, who is also looking to expand its reach there.
The AP report notes that NFL owners voted in December to allow the league to host eight games abroad each year.
When the NFL plays its first regular-season game in Brazil on September 6, the Green Bay Packers will face the Eagles.
For the 2024 season, the NFL will also have three games in London along with one in Germany. And Spain is on tap in 2025 for its first game, to be played at Real Madrid’s newly renovated Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
