NORTHDALE — The championship shirts were printed before the team left town. They were printed before the final practice of the season, even.
That is how sure the Tampa Mayhem rugby players and their coach, former Australian player Liam Mulhall, were that they would bring home the club’s first USA Rugby League national championship in five years.
The undefeated Mayhem were scheduled to meet the Los Angeles Roosters on Aug. 29 at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, California. The players expected to fly back victorious — and to celebrate at Shindig’s Irish Pub & Eatery in Westchase, Maloney’s Local Irish Pub in downtown Tampa, or both.
“We just know what we bring to the table,” Mulhall said. “Back home, it’s a high level and I know what it takes, so I told them at the start of the preseason, if you buy into what I’m selling, we’ll make the national championship.”
The players bought in. Mulhall also brought in three Australians who do nothing in Tampa but play for the Mayhem. Everyone else on the semiprofessional roster is American and holds a full-time job.
Covering equipment and jerseys, travel and lodging, and the Australians’ expenses takes 10 sponsors — including both pubs — and constant fundraising.
“I said, ‘Fellas, let’s do a calendar like the firefighters,’” Mulhall joked. “I don’t think they were too keen on that.”
The Mayhem opened play in June and have not lost a match, rarely letting an opponent into double figures. Home games are played at Leto High School.
Their toughest test came Aug. 15 in the USARL East Championship at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Viginia. Tampa and the D.C. Cavalry were tied at 22 at halftime.
“We pulled away in the last 20 minutes,” assistant coach Billy Neilson said. “Plus, our captain, Joe Eichner, was the match MVP — played the full 80 minutes and dominated on defense.”
The Mayhem won 48-32 to advance to what Mulhall calls “our Super Bowl.”
“It’s as if we won the NFC South and then the conference championship, and now we head to the Rugby League’s Super Bowl,” he said. “That’s how best I can describe it.”
Neilson and Dan “Otter” Slagle founded the Mayhem in 2014. The club’s best season came in 2021, when it upset the undefeated Jacksonville Axemen 18-14 in the South Conference Championship, then beat the Delaware Black Foxes 60-10 for the USARL title.
Nobody printed shirts that year. Tampa was the underdog. This season, the Mayhem beat the Axemen twice by a combined 86-16.
At the final practice, as the sun went down, it was easy to see why the players and their coach were so sure.
“I told them to keep (the shirts) put away at the final practice, even though they had them made already,” Mulhall said. “I like their confidence, and because they bought into what I was selling, really dedicated themselves to this season and mission, I think they are — and I am, too — confident we’ll be wearing those shirts.”
