Pro Rugby Comes to America – and it Might Just Work
There have been false dawns before but American Rugby is about to take its first steps into the pro leagues with the announcement of the PRO Rugby competition. Scotty Stevenson talks to the men behind the league and assesses its challenges and potential.
At Travers Island last weekend the Old Blue of New York defeated New York Athletic Club in the final game of the American Rugby Premiership Fall Season. In a typically bad tempered match – this is a long-standing rivalry built upon bitterness and proximity – the Old Blue managed to impose their characteristically violent will upon their New Rochelle rivals to secure a late win.
In the North East of America, no rugby match comes close to equalling the visceral blood lust of this particular encounter, though in typical American amateur rugby fashion all bad blood was left on the field and all players left alive at fulltime were soon engaged in that other great tradition of the fixture: the heroic rescue of alcoholic beverages from aluminium prisons.
While all this was happening, a former Bond Trader and Stadium Financier by the name of Douglas Schoninger watched on. Forty-eight hours after the conclusion of this particular pitched battle of Pelham, he would announce the formation of America’s first professional rugby competition, set for an April 2016 start date, sanctioned by both USA and World Rugby and financed by him under the PRO Rugby banner.
Of the great American amateur rugby rivalry playing out before him at Travers Island on Saturday he simply said, “These two clubs really don’t like each other at all.” You could say this for Schoninger: he is a master of understatement.
What is not understated is Schoninger’s obvious appreciation for the game of rugby union – both for its existing and exceptionally passionate amateur environment and for its massive growth potential. The challenge for Pro Rugby USA is in finding a way to weld those heretofore inimical concepts and to build a sustainable and successful competition.
With the re-introduction of Rugby sevens to the Olympic programme in Rio and the Rugby World Cup having been given exposure on major network television in the USA, Schoninger feels the time is right to take the game to a new level in America. Initially, six teams have been proposed covering the North East, the Rockies, and California. It is understood Philadelphia, Denver, Sacramento and San Francisco have been confirmed while a New York City option remains under negotiation.
Canadian interest may be piqued with the inclusion of a Vancouver-based side. Canadian rugby has certainly shown interest in joining an expanded league in the 2017 season, which would provide a much needed boost to Canada’s rugby programme, arguably one of the real disappointments at RWC 2015.
Old Blue of New York v Life, May 2015
Others have tried to institute a professional league before – that much needs to be acknowledged – but the last attempt by the so-called NRFL, which pitched itself ostensibly as NFL Lite and felt no need to reconcile its own ambitions with those of the rugby community or the national body was quickly buried under a pile of half-pie promises and the unbearable weight of scepticism.
The mistakes made by the organisation behind the doomed NRFL have provided, at least in part, a blueprint for the new competition. That is why Schoninger stood on the sidelines last weekend at the New York Athletic Club. That is why he is so keen to make the development of a genuinely manageable pro league a much more collaborative process.
“There will never be full agreement from everyone involved in the game on the shape this takes,” he says, with a shrewd nod to existing and inevitable politics of rugby, “but we understand that we need the rugby community to get behind this, and we in turn need to support the existing rugby community.”
This sentiment is very much at odds with the NRFL proposal which rather foolishly seemed to pride itself on its stunning belligerence. The NRFL saw no good reason for the need to be sanctioned by the national governing body nor World Rugby. It saw no need for players to be registered with clubs. In its blind arrogance it managed to turn off every vested interest but its own. Self-interest is not much of a bargaining chip.
Stephen Lewis, Director of Rugby at the Old Blue of New York has joined Schoninger’s team to lead the Operations strategy. Lewis, a jocular Scotsman long-tenured in the Big Apple, seems the perfect appointment to provide the necessary link between the existing clubs and the new professional competition. He admits there are myriad challenges ahead but sees massive upside for the game as it takes its first steps into the professional environment.
“Firstly, we respect the values of the game here and we commit to those values that have seen rugby enjoy good growth at school, club and collegiate level,” he says.
“Importantly, though, we see ourselves as an independent organisation that can add that next layer to the American rugby landscape. Understanding what rugby represents to the people already involved is crucial to making this a success, then we can take all of those things that are recognisably rugby – community, camaraderie, respect – and ensure we take an organic and holistic approach to exposing the game to a new audience.”
To understand some of the challenges PRO Rugby faces, we must first consider the position of the game in an American sporting landscape dominated by the big four – NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. Rugby has never positioned itself in the same league as the big leagues. In fact, if anything, rugby has been widely regarded as the Frat House of US Sports, a game for the guys who didn’t make the football roster, and who would rather tap the keg anyway.
The game itself may have been taken seriously (and clubs and colleges have become increasingly professional in their approach to the game in recent years) but for most participants, the after-match was the highlight of the day. It may be close to 50 years old, but this sublime piece by Joe Jares in Sports Illustrated in many ways encapsulates all that rugby once stood for. Even today, elements of this story form the foundations for rugby’s reputation among the casual American observer.
The Founders of Old Blue of New York
There are other issues, too. According to Lewis, and in what is a scarcely believable state of affairs, only two artificial fields in North America meet the requirements of World Rugby’s turf regulations. That poses a significant problem in finding suitable stadia for teams to be based at – a problem that is not insurmountable, yet remains a major ball ache for the organisers. Get it wrong and the experience of everyone – fans, players, media – will fall flat.
Also to be considered are the rosters themselves. With 30 players and coaching staff to be found and financed across six teams, the make- up of the sides will require serious deliberation. How many of the spots on each side, for instance, will be left open for national team members (both Canadian and American)? How many spots will be available for foreign nationals? How will existing club players be selected? And will spots be open to Collegiate-level players?
Fundamentally, PRO Rugby will grapple with the one crucial question from which all others flow: Does American Rugby have 180 professional grade players to begin with? The Simple answer, right now, is probably not. Yet, with more than 30,000 players at collegiate level, and an expanding club system, there is a temptation to reduce this fundamental quandary to a certain chicken and egg level. Without the players, does the competition exist? Or, rather, without the competition, can the players be found?
As it stands, clubs like Old Blue and others survive on the willingness of rugby people to stay involved in the game while pursuing their careers outside it. There is no money on offer at club level – just the goodwill attached to being a part of something unique and the benefit of the support which any club structure offers its members. That mentality has served many of the clubs well, and they have rightly indulged in their relatively rebellious and underground attitude.
Even the national champions, Georgia-based Life, have revelled in the knowledge that rugby has a special kind of spirit that the big leagues long-ago left behind. In May of this year, when speaking of the inevitable leap into the waters of professionalism, Athletic Director Dan Payne told me,
“Yes we want rugby to be professional, but if it’s at the expense of the culture we enjoy now, then I am not so sure.”
It’s a salient point in the battle for hearts and minds. But there is another element to consider: those same clubs, like Life and like Old Blue and Mystic River and NYAC and others, could suddenly find themselves at the heart of the development of professional players – an attractive position that may not be immediately obvious to the stalwarts. The American clubs, especially those currently active in the Pacific and American Rugby Premierships would have a new Raison d’etre and a new mode of recruitment.
Whatever the club response to the positioning of the PRO Rugby competition, Schoninger says they will continue to be collaborative and they will continue to ensure that all steps are taken to make this venture one that North American Rugby can benefit from.
“It’s a great game and it has great people, and we believe we can help take that to a place it has never been before,” he says.
“Are we in some ways a sporting equivalent of disruptive technology? Yes, in a sense we are. But this is a nation of disruptive people, and you have to have the desire to drive change if you want to be competitive.”
On Saturday, the members of the Old Blue of New York and the New York Athletic Club drank their post-match beers and reflected on the end of the fall season. For now winter is coming to the North East.
For now American Rugby, at least in these parts, will hunker down for the snow, and await a very different looking Spring.
Comments on RugbyPass
Sometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
3 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to comments