Salford Red Devils make groundbreaking deal with North American side

Salford Red Devils have announced a partnership in the US, with the The Southwest Florida Copperheads.

The North American club were formed in 2018 as part of USA Rugby League.

This partnership will support the development of Rugby League in Florida and North America in general. The partnership will see Salford Red Devils work with the Copperheads to support both on and off field aspects such as marketing, media, player recruitment and coaching development. This latest announcement follows successful partnerships in Australia, Ghana and Wales as we continue to promote and help grow the popularity of Rugby League.

Salford Red Devils executive director, Paul Trainor, commented: “We are delighted to announce the partnership with the Southwest Florida Copperheads.

As a club, we look forward to contributing to the ongoing development of the club, both on and off the field. From our initial discussions with Curtis, it is very clear to see the ambition of the Copperheads and we are excited to be support them on their journey.”

Curtis Goddard of the Southwest Florida Copperheads commented: “I’m excited because this partnership means a great deal to us. An opportunity for our game across all departments of our club in one of the most athletically gifted states in the US.

‘This partnership will help us develop the quality of our player pool. With the potential for top players each season to train with the Red Devils side, which creates competition within our side and an actual pathway for this player to get to England and develop.

The partnership will help us develop our coaching staff by creating a Mentor/Mentee relationship, giving access to Salford’s Coaching staff.”

We look forward to bringing further updates on this later in the year and wish the best of luck to the team at the Southwest Florida Copperheads for the coming season.

Latest news from Salford’s other partnerships:

North America

March 2022, Southwest Florida Copperheads RLFC announced as a new partner with Salford Red Devils

Ghana

In February 2022, the club had representatives from four African nations visit Salford as the location for the Middle-East Africa Championship draw. Salford’s partner Rugby League Federation Ghana, are hosting this year’s championship in September.

Wales

March 2022, with the support of the Salford RLFC Supporters Trust, the club were able to sign four new players through their partnership with Wales Rugby League. The new signings will be part of Salford’s reserves team and visited Salford for Round 5 of the Betfred Super League to receive and sign their contracts and receive their shirts.

Australia

Partnership with Queensland club Ipswich jets, was announced by the club in September 2021. Both are community clubs and share the same ethos of hard work and sense of community. The partnership is a fabulous opportunity for the players of both clubs and their cities that we represent to be better and live their rugby league dreams.