If America gets serious about rugby, watch out world

How could an american football athlete put himself into a position to play rugby internationaly. Who would he contact for an opportunity to do so?

ok even if they did sign axed nfl players thered only be about 4 positions that would be of any use and that would be WR as wingers or outside backs, RB as centres or sometimes no 8, and the linemen as forwards. but even then that leaves some of the vital playmaker positions for the usa to build up. and even then most of the axed NFL players wont go because its too hard to do more than 2 things at once. but if rugby could be introduced as a school based competition- similar to basketball and gridiron then watch out. but even then this would take about 10 yrs before seeing major results and even then they might not do that well, look at american basketball for example won any world championships recently. however some of these players could be able to help build up US rugby into the high profile sport it needs to be to suceed. imagine it. guys like reggie bush and chad johnson playing rugby will make the popularity for rugby go through the roof. and thats the first step the US need is raising the popularity

MC I'm certain my feelings to the teams competiting in AFL's IC will mirror yours as concerns the teams involved in RL's WC.

Michael C With all due respect rugby and gridiron are completely different sports and fulfill completely different needs among their watchers. The fact that each is played with an oval ball and is centred around moving that ball into the opponent's territory may make them look similar at first glance but a quick delve beneath the surface and they are completely different. In fact, the "British" game that most closely resembles gridiron is not rugby but cricket. (Round about now if I say this in the presence of an American I usually get a clump on the ear). The pace of the two games is exactly the same. A set piece, meticulously prepared by both sides based on what stratagem the side in posession of the ball is expected to adopt, a few seconds of explosive action and then reset and start again. Setting the field in both games is half the battle. Captaincy is vital. Both are obsessed with statistics (even by American standards, gridiron has so many different metrics it's funny) Both are relatively simple to explain in principle but devilishly difficult to follow if you are a newcomer. You need to have the nuances constantly explained. (Just as an aside, could you imagine Richie Benaud commenting on gridiron? A normal american commentator might call a play, complete with exaggerated vocal excitement. 'Look at this. Quarterback in the shotgun position. Good protection from the offensive line. Here comes the full back on a play action fake but the wide receiver is wide open in the end zone. Pass complete!!! TOUCHDOWN!!!!" Whereas Benaud would probably say. "Hmm. That's well played") Both require body armour to play and both go on far too bloody long. Basketball is America's soccer. A simple game with endless opportunities for great skill. Gridiron is America's cricket. A game for the strategists and people who want to sit around all day swilling beer and munching cucumber sandwiches. Rugby? There isn't an equivalent really, unless you liken its propensity for violence to ice hockey. And maybe the Americans will see in rugby a physical contact sport that they can occasionally beat the Canadians at!! There's a compelling selling point.

I would've thought that Rugby is too much like Grid Iron - - - just without as much padding and Union at least still retains the formation style plays that Teddy Roosevelt had to ban 100 years ago. I'd wonder as to the real point of distinction., however == the co-existance in places of Union and League illustrates that you can have a point of little distinction. I'd think the lead would be taken from soccer - - if the MLS can sustainably go forward - - - then perhaps Rugby could. Apart from anything else - - the ex-pat population in the US from 'Rugby' countries should ensure that something could happen. Just what - - that's the question I guess. btw - are we talking exclusively League, Union - - -or either? Norm - - couldn't help yourself, could you - - we've never preached world domination and you know it, however - - I'll be down at Royal Park cheering on the Danish Vikings in about a months time. Will you be wishing ill will, or will you be proud that they and 15 other teams have saved money and holidays to venture to Melbourne in (the tail end of) winter just to play a game that isn't played anywhere else in the world (except, where they themselves are playing it - but, that's a technicality).

To be honest, Roberts ambitions over a 4 year period were a little unrealistic. No sport could gain that sort of momentum in such a short time without $Billions in investment or a communist/dictatorship regime forcing it on the populace. A 10 year plan for growth is far more realistic and measurable. As stated, the two pathways to success are youth participation and media exposure, both take time and the two are usually interlinked tightly. But, in this day and age, media exposure is defintely the easier of the two to achieve in a short time. Roberts has realised this obvious need to get exposure for the game, because Rugby is an enjoyable and social team sport and, when people actually get to experience the game, they tend to take to it with enthusiasm. So getting them exposed to the game has been on the USA Rugby board plans for a while now. I'm of the opinion that 7's is the best way to take the game to people quickly and easily. The San Diego 7's, as part of the IRB World Series, has been growing steadily. The carnival atmosphere that usually is associated with these events is contagious and is a great way to promote the sport. The organisers of the event have done a great job so far and with more time I believe more locals will be attending games, with less expats. The USA Ealges 7's team has also helped in regard to growing the game of 7's, and subsequently rugby. As we all know, success in 7's rugby is far easier to achieve than 15's. Less players are needed and less technical rugby skills are required, although the basic are still much needed. This has allowed the Eagles to compete well recently and some excellent 15's talent has already been found (Threton Palamo, Todd Clever). The on field competition in 7's allows for much more upsets and also has allowed for a greater variety of teams to win against established nations. The big kicker will come when 7's is eventually accepted into the Olympics, which is merely a metter of time surely. Sevens has been a big part of the Commonwealth Games and was the most watched event in Melbourne 2006 l believe. Rugby was also introduced into the Asian games in 1998 (the same year it was introduced to the Commonweath Games) and just last year it was announced that 7's will now be an offical sport in the the Pan-American Games. This is a huge development for the sport and will give a 4 yearly target for all rugby (and non rugby) countries within both North and South America for the sport of Rugby. The African games are yet to host 7's rugby however. When/if 7's rugby is accepted back into the Olympics, many nations will realise the existence of the sport. Olympics performance, on behalf of your nation means huge exposure and also national funding. This will provide a hige boost to the USA, as well as many other nations. Couple with the growth of 7's globally, is the signing of all domestic 7's rights in the US over to sporting entreprenuer William Tatham Jr, including all ownership, operational and broadcasting rights. This includes the USAR Collegiate Invitational Rugby Sevens Tournament (a new tournament set to build on the recent growth in College rugby), the USAR Men’s Club Sevens Championships and the USAR Men’s and Women’s All-Star Sevens. Tathams group include a large number of experienced TV execs, who are just what the games need to get media exposure. The collegiate tournament will bring a whole new level of exposure and direction to the game at that age grade and gives students a real opportunity to eventually obtain sporting scholarships for the sport of Rugby. This is great news for the growth of the game and will go along way to gaining rugby some real respect as a college sport and as a primary sport for college kids to play. However, the biggest development though is the introduction of a US$1million winner takes all 7s tournament to be held in Las Vegas. The event will include live tv and internet games broadcasts as well as a 2 hour TV special and 13 subsequent reality tv shows following the paths of tournament participants from around the world to the glitzy event in the dessert. The huge money on offer (US$83000 each, for a regular 12 man squad) also provides a real financial incentive to give the game a go, especially if your an athlete who is not in the big time and who has tranplantable skills to the 7 man game (hello idle American Footballers). It will also help entice some of the better players around the world to the event. This type of exposure would also cut through to the main US market, with reality tv being the new big thing on the box. http://www.scrum.com/39_51592.php Finally, the other roads to media exposure for the game is also being realised. USA Rugby has signed high profile sponsorship deals with Sony, Sentanta Sports, the American National Guard. I'm sure they can thank Roberts for much of this success. They have also signed agreements with the NZRU, including coaching and knowledge sharing. This will no doubt see the AB's playing a high profile game on US shored in the near future (possibly another offshore Bledisloe Cup match, following on from Hong Kong 2008). Also, USA Rugby recently (2007) held a WC warmup game between the US Eagles and the Irish provincial club Munster (held in Chicago), which drew over 8500 fans. This is now to be backed up with a rematch next month (August), with Munster (now the European Champs) being hosted at the Irish Cultural Centre in Boston, undoubtably as stronger Irish American heritage as you could get. The Eagles will also play French club side ASM Clermont Auvergne (losing Top14 finalists) in Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston just happens to be home to Michelin North America, the Tyre making giant that was founded in Monferrand, France (from which the sports club that spawned ASM Clermont Auvergne was founded for employees of the company). This match will be televised nationally across the US on ESPN classic. USA Rugby has also just annouced the founding of the Youth Academy, to be based out of Boulder Colorado, for kids ages 10 to 19. It certainly appears that things are on the right track.

Sadly, people here still confuse rugby and lacrosse.

Zolton - I would not say that soccer is becoming part of the culture here. It already is, at all levels except for at the highest pro level (MLS). And the MLS is steadily expanding, a team is coming to Seattle, where I live, in 2009. Growing up in Seattle, I remember watching the Sounders play in the NASL (against the Cosmos and others) in the late 70s, in a stadium with > 50,000 paying spectators. As Zolton says, pro soccer went into decline in the 80s, and the advent of the MLS has reversed that trend.

There is certainly a curiosity about rugby amongst the locals here. I watched the titanic Rugby World Cup match between the All Blacks and France at a bar in lower Manhattan, and the room was buzzing with excitement - and not just in the voices of the many ex-pats that were there. The Americans I know who watch rugby tend to enjoy it. But it's not part of the culture here in any way, and definitely not nearly as much as soccer is becoming. That will be the greatest challenge that Roberts and co face. How to get reasonable media coverage for rugby amongst the saturation of traditional American sports. Soccer (football) made its first real impact here back in the 1980s with the NY Cosmos and the arrival of Pele, amongst a series of high-profile acquisitions for the club. However, soccer also went into decline for many years after the initial burst of enthusiasm because it failed to translate well to American TVs (and attention spans!) Perhaps a bigger Rugby Sevens push will be the first step towards infiltrating the American psyche. Start with the all action version of the game and work inwards from there.

A step in the right direction for rugby union facilities in the USA is in Glendale, Colorado. Glendale is an enclave in Denver and only 4 miles from downtown Denver. In the fall of last year this small town opened up the first city-owned, Rugby only stadium in the USA. It seats 5,000, has lights, a jumbotron, etc. Here is a photo: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3273/2554817394_cb8f365db0_o.jpg&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/51646434%40N00/2554817394&h=435&w=580&sz=115&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=t1dzMNN2GvkM-M:&tbnh=101&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dinfinity%2Bpark%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN They do have a club: Glendale Raptor Rugby club, complete with Youth, u-19 men, women and senior men. The club also has a a small tv contract with a regional sports channel. The hope is that other cities throughout the USA will follow suit www.glendalerugby.com

Dublin Dave - The facilities in the US aren't all as bad as the tournament you cite. There are plenty of places better suited than New York to host events such as this, somebody just picked the wrong one in this specific case. The place in the LA area where the USA Sevens was hosted for several years springs to mind. I personally think that the coaching at the grass-roots level is likely to be more of an issue than adequate facilities.

Did you know that George W Bush used to play rugby? Yup, there is a picture of him taking a tackle while playing for (I think) Yale. Which says a lot. Rugby is an Ivy League sport in the US. It's not a grass roots game. Further evidence of this comes from the match programme I think I still have somewhere of the Ireland USA tie of the 1999 World Cup, which I attended. The club which most of the USA team played for was called Gentlemen of Aspen! None of your Sharks, Lions, Tigers or Barbarians for the yanks. Gentlemen of Aspen should be enough to strike terror into the heart of any opponent. Ironically, the main problem facing the Americans is one of facilities. A few weeks ago, I watched a documentary on Irish TV about the Mark Bingham cup which had taken place in New York in 2006. Little did I realise at the time that it was part of the publicity drive for the 2008 tournament which was due to take place in Dublin. This tournament is blissfully amateur. It is for gay rugby teams the world over and is a sort of unofficial world cup. In fact there are several tournaments, catering for teams of varying abilities. But what was shocking about the New York event was the absolute paucity of facilities. Some of the matches seemed to take place on waste ground and the players were advised to check the "pitches" at the start to remove items such as drinks cans, broken glass and syringes!!!! The Dublin event by contrast was played on pitches at a university during holiday time so plenty of facilities, changing rooms etc. Not much of a grandstand but hey, it was the taking part that was important. Not the selling of the game. And if Ireland can outdo you on the facilities front, you're in a bad way. There is no reason America cannot be a power in World Rugby, even if rugby remains a decidedly minority sport there. It's a minority sport in many other countries too, not least Australia England and France, all of whom do OK at test level. America is, after all, a world power in soccer although not many people realise it. Check out the FIIFA rankings. IT's currently in 30th place, and has only dipped as low as 31st in the world in the past three years. The highest it has ranked is fourth (admittedly slightly anomalous) but it usually hovers in the 15th to 25th range. That's pretty impressive for a sport where the world cup, which has rigorous qualification tournaments all across the world, now features 32 teams. The Americans have twice been quarter finalists in the last four tournaments. That's better than many "traditional" powers. This strength is based not on media hype or importing expensive superannuated foreign stars. (Who could I mean?) It is based on participation. The Soccer Moms have produced a strong American national side by getting kids to play the game, love it, learn the skills and aspire to play at the highest level. There is plenty of scope in the USA (there's 300 million of them after all) to build up a strong rugby culture. But they need access to facilities. Rugby is not, like soccer, a street game. Build the amateur roots and it will flower.

Regarding rugby and new markets, I think the profits from the RWC (for all its faults) have led to a huge investment in new markets. Just look at the new tournaments that have been developed in recent years, (nations cup for example), the growth of teams such as Georgia and Portugal, and the fact that even teams such as Spain now have fulltime quality coaches. Who do you think is paying for this?

according to Roar AFL bloggers Americans will all be playing Aussie Rules soon enough - rugby hasn't a hope!!!

Lazza, I'll tell you what RU did for 30 years - for 15 of those years, RU was prima facie not professional. Until 1987 we didn't have a world cup, and when it actually did happen, it faced opposition from idiots in Ireland and Scotland. Basically the game was run by amateurs, and expansion into new countries was not on the agenda. Personally I dont think the Chinese will ever take to rugby anyway, so it would be a lost cause, although I hope Im proven wrong here. At the Olympics, China does well in individual events like gymnastics, diving, swimming, weight lifting. The Chinese have yet to taste success at an international level in team sports. They wont be at the next soccer world cup, and I can't think of a single Chinese soccer player, like say Hristo Stoitchov (Bulgaria), Gheorghe Hagi (Romania) or Ilhan Mansiz (Turkey). I have heard of Yao Ming from the Houston Rockets, but still the Chinese are not really that successful at basketball either. The US has got the culture to be successful at rugby, but there are a hell of a lot of road blocks. The area rugby should target is young African Americans and Hispanics (along with Islanders) - the "traditional" rugby demographic - white middle class - is soccer dominated, and the soccer moms of America are less likely to let their kids play rugby.

Boy, I think it will be at least ten years before we (the USA) are competitive with the established rugby-playing nations. While at the collegiate level it seems to be picking up momentum, pre- and post-college are the real problem areas. Not to say the unexpected couldn't happen. Americans will get behind an underdog. The greatest sporting event I've ever witnessed was the 1980 Olympic ice hockey team that somehow beat the Soviets and went on to win the gold medal. The whole country watched that game. That single event jump-started ice hockey at the grassroots level in this country the way nothing else could.

I have refereed in the USA. In a trial game I reffed Seattle verse USA Army. In talking with the guys they love it. Most are ex grid iron players and much prefer rugby. The issues they face trying to expand are 1) junior involvement at schools etc. So much competition, and for a sport where a financial future is not viable i.e. to play professional. Then if it is just for fun and activity the fear of potential injuries in a body contact sport with 'no' protective equipement puts a lot off. Cannot be played by schools below 16 years of age they told me, due to potential litigation. 2) very little media exposure. the average working man is hardly aware rugby exists to play in USA. 3) Due to affirmative action for women in universities only sports that were played both both received federal subsidies in state universities. Some Universities still retain their rugby traditions. 4) a lot of the ex grid iron players that try it find having to multi skill too difficult for them and they can't be bothered. They are used to be 'stars', really stand out which is important to them. Now having to tackle, and run, and pass and making mistakes turns a lot off. Remember they only play attack or defence. Only the QB really passes the ball.

I'll believe it when I see it. We've heard about these 'expansion' plans for just about every traditional sport in Australia for the last 30 years and none of them have ever delivered. How about the world's biggest sports market, the one in our own backyard, namely China? Thirty years ago there was no professional sport in China. FIFA got busy, saw an opportunity and pumped money, equipment, specialists and meaningful competitions for the Chinese FA. David Stern at the NBA saw an opportunity, gave the government FREE NBA TV rights and money to get basketball up and running. Today, Football and Basketball are the 2 biggest team sports in China and the two biggest team sports in the World. What were RU ,RL, Cricket and AFL doing for the last 30 years? Talking about expansion but doing little to actually make it happen.

That speed you quoted is good, fast but not extreme. Tuqiri's best time ove 40 metres not yards is 4.84. 40 yards is 36 metres so 4.4 secs equates to about the same time, adding 10%. Tuqiri is not the fastest guy going around over 40 metres, even at his best. The fastest NFL players run 40 yards in 4.1 or 4.2 ses. There must be a discrepency in how timings are made, hand or electronic, from start of a movement or from a starter's gun.

Considering the situation with the number of players who don't make the NFL, it surprises me rugby union hasn't taken off yet in the US. It may yet happen, but hasn't yet. With a population of over 320 million, & so many extraordinarily gifted athletes, it's only a matter of time before the US becomes a power in rugby. But it requires some dedicated & clever people to co-ordinate this. The rest of us shouldn't be in a hurry for the US to become a power in rugby. Once they do, it might be difficult to compete with them on an equal footing. Ditto China & Russia. We welcome them into the brotherhood of rugby nations. But perhaps not too quickly!!!!!