Crowe appears on ESPN's MNF
25 Oct 2007
South Sydney co-owner Russell Crowe has appeared on ESPN’s Monday Night Football show talking about his beloved Rabbitohs.
Crowe was interviewed wearing a white Rabbitohs cap and black Rabbitohs vest during the half-time break in the Indianapolis Colts v Jacksonville Cougars NFL game.
In fantastic exposure ahead of the Rabbitohs Australia Day match against the Leeds Rhinos at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville Florida the Oscar winner told the assembled panel of NFL experts: “It’s in a competition called the NRL premiership and the team is called the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
“The team has been around for 100 years. The last time they won I was seven years old, I distinctly remember the day, the celebrations and the cake; it was like my birthday.”
Crowe also spoke about the Rabbitohs record breaking 2007 season.
"If you think about the situation we're in, where we haven't won since 1971 and hadn't played in the finals for 18 years ... we had to reconstruct the culture from the ground up,'' he said.
"That required a lot of time and effort from myself and business partner Peter Holmes à Court. We spent the best part of nine months this year doing nothing else but Rugby League. We made the finals too, broke that 18-year drought.''
Monday Night Football is broadcast worldwide including on Fox Sports in Australia. In the US the show is viewed by more than 15 million people. And Crowe introduced many of them to Rugby League and spoke of the January 26 clash at Hodges Stadium against the English Super League champions.
"There will be a game here on January 26 - a week before the Super Bowl. It will be between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and a team from England called the Leeds Rhinos,” Crowe said.
"They just won the championship there, it's the Super Bowl of the league in England. It will be a big game. We've already sold 1500 tickets in 36 different states and six different countries. So it's going to be a bit of an event.''
To view the clip click here:
ESPN-RustyInTheBooth-10222007sm.wmv
For tickets to the game go to www.southsydneystory.com and follow the links.
And if you want to purchase the Rabbitohs cap or vest that Russell Crowe was wearing during the interview on ESPN go to www.souths.com.au/shop.