Red Devils may be heading to Big Apple

SALFORD continue to explore the possibility of playing a fixture in New York this year – and Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington is keen for his side to be the opposition.

The Red Devils initially planned to move the Good Friday tie against Catalans Dragons to the Big Apple, with the match played on the same weekend in June when England face New Zealand in Denver, Colorado.

Home fans would have been compensated for the loss of the fixture and the club would have received a significant payment from the backers behind the New York side seeking to follow Toronto Wolfpack’s lead into the RFL league system.

But when it was put to a vote, a number of clubs voiced concerns for the integrity of the competition if the two sides were only required to play over the Easter bank holiday, when all other teams played twice in four days.

Speaking on the Rugby League Back Chat show on FreeSports TV, Leeds chief executive Gary Hetherington said: “We were supportive of that concept because there’s clearly interest. There’s a franchise bid coming in from New York we understand, and if that’s the case and there’s genuine interest then it clearly makes sense to me to take a game out there to New York to test the market.

“If Salford are prepared to take one of their games out there and it happens to be against us, we would be receptive to that.”