The Press Call at Jacksonville Landing yesterday was well attended by some fans, a lunch time crowd and by many representatives of media from all over the world. Besides local papers and TV, the Daily Telegraph, Morning Herald, ESPN Australia, the BBC as well as other UK publications were all there eager to interview anyone who seemed to be there to support the teams. It was sort of a surreal experience to have people with notepads following you around and cameras and microphones in your face no matter where you turned! The Leeds team was dressed in track jackets, shorts and flip flops and it was quite a contrast and cool to see the “Armani Army” march into the landing looking professional and very smart in their suits!

The organized press conference was interesting to listen to, with Peter speaking about the importance of the ties between Leeds and Souths as well as how much of a precedent it was to bring League to the US in an attempt to introduce the game to an American audience. New South Wales Parliament member Kristina Keneally, the first U.S.-born woman elected to Parliament and Sydney’s ambassador to America for the game, spoke about growing up as an NFL fan but became a life long League fan from the time she saw her first game in Sydney. Some formal questions were asked of the players and the coaches and then they ended the conference to do individual interviews.

With over seven thousand tickets sold for the game, it is really encouraging to see so many people excited and curious to watch these two teams play on Saturday!