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Sometimes when it rains it pours. This appears to be the case for professional rugby in the United States.
Three weeks ago I provided a brief update leading into the inaugural season of PRO Rugby. Featuring teams from San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Denver and Ohio. As a dedicated rugby fan I’ve tuned into the leagues stream via their aol.com feed each week and can happily say, so far, so good. The games have been very entertaining and played at a standard well beyond anything ever seen domestically in the States.
The crowds have been good. They are better than was expected which is encouraging considering that this season is in fact PRO Rugby’s beta test.
As an outsider who has been watching the development of the game and its progression toward professionalism the the country for a decade it has been wonderful to see that finally, the game has taken the leap and the signs are promising. But, it’s about to get a little more interesting.
Several weeks ago the Austin Huns RFC announced ambitious plans to launch a professional squad in the near future. Those same plans also included the development of a 34 acre rugby specific facility that will include a 10,000 stadium. This will be all owned and run by the club themselves.
The Huns will look to join Griffins Rugby from Allen, TX near Dallas who have been transitioning toward professionalism for several years now with a number of their current squad being full timers at present.
Furthermore, only a fortnight after this announcement more news of the Huns signing not only former Eagles captain Todd Clever as the clubs ambassador but of a partnership with Racing Metro 92 emerged. This provided more weight to the story.
Now, it appears the Huns announcement was merely the vanguard to the emergence of a second professional league in the USA. A more regional based one based around the preexisting Red River Conference (South-West). According to an article on rugbywrapup.com the Huns and Griffins will likely be joined by a team from Houston, New Orleans, another Austin team in the Austin Blacks and possibly one from Oklahoma City.
Additionally, the group behind this push have had conversations with other teams from further afield. Which could potentially make things interesting.
While the emergence of a competitor may make some feel a little nervous it is essentially the American way. Multiple entities fighting it out until one united league emerges with the strongest teams as members.
As both competitions will essentially run during differing windows it may be possible to see players popping up in both. The real question will be whether this spurs the likes of the Glendale Raptors, Seattle Saracens, San Francisco Golden Gate, New York Old Blue etc. into action.
Considering these will be the clubs both leagues will be looking to draw from it really be a question of whether they look to transition their own regional leagues into professional entities creating a situation where there could be several professional leagues or they choose to join the Huns and form their own league based around clubs.
In regards to PRO you would have to imagine the emergence of several regional professional leagues based in the USA’s fall would be preferred as it would form a strong base in which to draw from to feed their competition that is played in the spring/summer.
Interesting times. There is hopefully more to come for rugby in the United States.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.