RFL made plans to send a delegation out to California but were unable to do so due to the outbreak of World War II. 1950s: American All-Stars One of the earliest attempts to introduce rugby league to the United States was in 1953, when Mike Dimitro, a wrestling promoter and former UCLA football all star and NFL Rams player (1947 draft), was asked to organize a tour of Australasia by an American rugby league side. The team was given a huge schedule that included 26 matches against Australian and New Zealand sides. None of the 22 American players had ever played rugby league prior to the tour, and they presented themselves in American football-like attire early on in the tournament. The side won only six games as well as drawing two. Their second match of the tour, against a Sydney side, drew a crowd of 65,453 to the Sydney Cricket Ground. After a consistent lack of competition, crowds were good but never reached the same heights. In turn the tour did not in turn bring any benefits to American rugby league, but Mike Dimitro did not give up, he was able to organize two exhibitions against Australia and New Zealand in California that did not turn out to be a big success. An American side also made a short tour of France in early 1954, including a match against the France national team in Paris. France beat US 31–0. Mike Dimitro was still optimistic of developing the game in the United States but his bid to host a Rugby League World Cup in the 1960s failed. Rugby League through the 1970s and 1980s In the 1970s former American football player Mike Mayer founded the United States Rugby League with the intention of forming the country's first professional rugby league competition. Between 1976 and 1978, Mayer secured franchising rights from the British Rugby Football League and attempted to attract funding from British and Australian promoters to help establish a twelve-team professional competition. The proposed league would have chiefly relied on attracting American football players who could not make it in the National Football League. However, Mayer was unable to find sufficient financial backing, and the league never got off the ground. In the 1980s interest in amateur rugby league began to grow. In 1986 a new competition, the Tri-Counties Rugby League, was established with three teams in Canada and one from