America’s Slow Conversion to a Rugby Nation

On September 12, more than 68,000 watched South Africa beat New Zealand at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium in “Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry,” the finale of a four-game series otherwise played on African soil. It was a rugby occasion in America but it wasn’t an American rugby occasion. The vast majority of spectators were South African, wearing the green of the Springboks. The All Blacks had a few thousand fans, perhaps the support of most Americans present, and ultimately no answer to South Africa’s power, pace, and skill. The Springboks won, six tries to four, 43-28. The game was not just a money-making exercise. It was also a test run for World Cups on American soil: Men in 2031, women two years later. Rugby has been played in America for more than a hundred years. It once challenged football. But of course football won and American rugby remains passionate, scattered, and amateur — except at the very top, where the men’s pro competition, Major League Rugby, now has just five teams. There is no prospect of the Eagles men or women winning a World Cup anytime soon, though the women did so in 1991, at the first such event. Making the knockouts remains a steep challenge.On the day of Boks v All Blacks, the American men played in Osaka against Japan. They were smashed, 63-14. The following Saturday at Tokyo’s Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, the Eagles fell to Canada, 19-16.Why is World Rugby targeting America? Dan Lyle has answers. A football standout at Virginia Military Institute in the 1990s, he had offers from the Minnesota Vikings and Bath, one of the oldest rugby teams in England. Mr. Lyle chose Bath, and went on to lead the Eagles at two World Cups. Now, he leads rugby for AEG. That entertainment giant wasn’t involved in Baltimore but Mr. Lyle saluted “a tremendous success … one of the most memorable rugby experiences ever staged in the United States. Thousands of people left talking about how much fun they had, how impressive the venue was, and how much they enjoyed the overall experience.“What makes that success interesting is when it happened,” Mr. Lyle added. “Baltimore took place during one of the busiest stretches of the American sports calendar. Football dominates high school campuses, college campuses, and NFL cities throughout September. Yet rugby still attracted more than 68,000. That doesn’t mean rugby has beaten football. It means rugby may not need to. Rugby simply needs to find a place within a crowded sports marketplace, and Baltimore suggests that is possible.”Passionate American rugby folk were present at Baltimore but were swallowed by the huge crowd. In part this was by design. World Rugby’s chief aim was not, directly, to develop American rugby. It was to sell a rugby game to America; to TV, sponsors, and sports fans, to deliver a full stadium and full wallets for two established countries.Mr. Lyle said Baltimore “was about testing markets. Which cities can attract crowds? Which venues work best? Which communities embrace rugby? Which sponsors engage? Which locations create destination experiences for traveling fans? Those are the questions being answered right now.”The 2031 World Cup will see big games in big stadiums, the global audience at least as important as the number of Americans who attend or tune in. Next to such commercial imperatives, the strength of American rugby may seem a secondary concern.But American rugby fans did go to Baltimore. At a restaurant near the stadium, US Rugby Foundation CEO Shane Young hosted prospective supporters. In a mural-covered room, Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama gazed down on diners in All Blacks merch as Mr. Young made his pitch.An event at Baltimore hosted by the US Rugby Foundation. Martin Pengelly“The answer is money,” he said. “What’s the question? Well, at the US Rugby Foundation, we’re taking a bold step forward in trying to execute what we think is a paradigm shift in the way that youth rugby is engineered in this country, by normalizing talented full-time leaders on a salary, benefits, and a retirement plan, to be the best youth rugby developers possible. And that is a scary and expensive prospect unless you’re dreaming really big about the potential of American rugby, and unless you’re looking at other non-traditional sports that think it’s a no-brainer to hire talented people full-time.”Years ago, Mr. Young founded Memphis Inner-City Rugby, a nonprofit for underserved kids. He knows both how hard it is to make rugby pay and how thrilling rugby can be. Fresh from a week on the road, from Florida to Aspen Ruggerfest and back, Mr. Young said Baltimore offered “a refreshing reminder of the passion of American rugby people to show up. We could huddle up with the big-time stakeholders and influential leaders in American rugby.” Boks v All Blacks, he said, “was just a beautiful thing… and I watched it with the Princeton women’s rugby alums.” American women’s rugby is well established, though inequalities remain. The Eagles women began their fall schedule last Sunday, beating Ireland in Dublin. In October they will play Italy in Mansfield, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee, before a marquee event: England at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, on Oct. 30. The Eagles are improving, colleges producing players for Women’s Elite Rugby, a five-team semi-pro league. But England are the world champions: Fully pro, sweeping most opponents aside. At the last World Cup, in England, the Eagles and Red Roses kicked off in front of 40,000. The Americans, center-cum-social-media-star Ilona Maher among them, were hammered 69-7. Previewing this fall, Eagles coach Jack Hanratty outlined his plan of action: “We know we’re playing what looks like an unstoppable machine at the end of this, so we’re trying to [identify] in what facets can we challenge… the world champions. If we challenge the world champions in things, that means we’re getting closer to being world class.” In America coaches and leaders speak of nothing less than world domination. But this is American rugby. At Baltimore, the Springboks and All Blacks showed how far off the summit remains.Mr. Pengelly writes about rugby in America on Substack at The National Maul

America’s Slow Conversion to a Rugby Nation

America’s Slow Conversion to a Rugby Nation

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