Opportunity knocked after living in Big Apple
DANIEL GALLAN talks to Sale maestro AJ MacGinty about his route to the top
Of all the attributes necessary to play as an elite-level flyhalf, perhaps the most important of all is confidence. Confidence when taking aim at the game-winning penalty. Confidence when choosing the right pass as an overlap develops. Confidence when holding the line as a brutish forward makes a charge.
Alan “AJ” MacGinty has confidence in abundance. The 30-year-old with 28 Test caps for the United States of America has proven himself to be an integral figure at Sale Sharks over the last four years. But confidence is not a trait that came naturally to the Dublin native. He had to discover his mojo the hard way.
“It was something I used to struggle with,” MacGinty tells The Rugby Paper. “Coming up I was never the guy who scored tries from the halfway line or put in monster hits that made the crowd gasp. I was little and that always had an impact on my confidence. Other guys would big me up and tell me I had a natural eye for angles and putting people into space. But I guess it was something I had to work on.”
MacGinty’s honest summation of his journey is both heartening and surprising. A cursory glance at his timeline would suggest that bravado was woven into his DNA.
Rugby has always been an important component of his life. His maternal grandfather, George Norton, played 11 Tests for Ireland between 1949 and 1951 and toured with the Lions to New Zealand and Australia in 1950. MacGinty’s cousin, Dave Gannon, had a relatively successful career at lock for Connacht and Exeter, and his older brothers were handy amateur players themselves.
His father, also named Alan, is the principal at his alma mater Blackrock College. “Some of the other lads would often give me a bit of grief as a result,” he says. “But I’ve always been able to stand up for myself. Having two older brothers toughens you up. Thankfully it never went beyond a few barbs.”
It was here, at the prestigious 160-year-old talent factory that includes Brian O’Driscoll, Fergus Slattery and Luke Fitzgerald among its alumni, that MacGinty’s passion for rugby was cultivated, below.
“To be honest, my first love was football,” he says. “I even had dreams of becoming a professional. But once I got to Blackrock I had to make the decision. Rugby was everything at the school and if I wanted to make it I couldn’t commit to both sports. I remember even when I was in primary school how the first team were treated like conquering heroes. They’d just won the Leinster Cup and it was such a big deal. If you had a bit of talent it was natural that you’d gravitate towards rugby.”
MacGinty confesses that he did not work as hard as some of his mates. Those who were picked up by provincial academies had spent more time in the gym than he had.
After graduating he enrolled at the National College of Ireland and looked ahead to a future in an alternate field.
But something stuck with him. Deep inside a fire still burned. “I told myself that I wouldn’t be that guy who lived in the past,” he says. “We all know the guy, the one who, after a few pints, goes on about how he could have made it. If it didn’t happen I’d be OK. But I never completely shut the door on rugby.”
One of MacGinty’s school friends was on a tennis scholarship at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. A couple of buddies took a trip to go see their old pal compete in a regional competition.
“It blew me away,” MacGinty says. “I couldn’t believe the size of it, what a big deal American colleges made of their sport. My friend said he sometimes struggled with homesickness but that it was the best decision he’d ever made. That’s when I started thinking about going over myself.”
His father pulled some strings and helped him secure a move to New York on a one-year visa where he’d play for New York Athletic Club RFC. For most of the year he worked in IT recruitment. It was hard graft and provided little joy. When a position as a bartender in the Big Apple opened he jumped at the chance.
“It was so much fun,” he says, almost giddy at the memory. “I was young, I was with my friends, we were in New York and making decent money. But then my parents came to visit and they weren’t too happy with my lifestyle and insisted I sort it out.”
After more string pulling from his father he landed a scholarship at Life University in Marietta, Georgia. While completing his MA in sport health science he played for the Life Running Eagles and coached the junior team. As he approached three years living in the US, his brothers planted a seed in his mind.
“They pointed out that I could qualify to play for the national team,” he says. “It hadn’t occurred to me. And because I’d always wanted to play at the highest level I was open to it. The 2015 World Cup was approaching and it became this goal that I couldn’t let go.”
He made his international debut on July 18, 2015 in a 21-16 loss to Samoa in San Jose, kicking three penalties and a conversion. However, something didn’t sit right.
“In the build up to that first game I tried to avoid interviews,” he says. “My accent is a giveaway that I’m not American and I didn’t want journalists to ask questions I didn’t have a good answer to.”
It was his coach, Mike Tolkin who assured him of his place: “He told me that I belonged and that I was an American, that I’d given back to the community, that I’d earned my place. It was a massive moment for me. From then I made a point of doing everything I could to help grow US rugby.”
MacGinty is not a fan of the “sleeping giant” analogy that hovers over his team.
He does understand why it’s so tantalising. After all, with a population north of 300 million and a rich sporting pedigree, the Eagles seemingly have all the ingredients to soar to the summit of the game.
“We may seem like a big country, and of course we are, but our rugby is so spread out that the different states might as well be separate countries,” MacGinty explains.
“If I had a magic wand and could change one thing about the game in the US it would be to have all 13 teams in Major League Rugby located in the same state for the duration of the season.”
The success of the USA Sevens team is proof of the country’s potential. Before it was announced in 2009 that the shorter format would be included in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the US had not finished higher than tenth in the World Rugby Sevens Series. Once the prospect of a gold medal was on the table, the side’s performances improved. A first ever cup victory came in 2016 in England and a second overall finish in the 2018-19 series underlined the great strides the team had made.
The 15-man game has a steeper hill to climb. Four defeats – including a 45-7 reverse to England – from as many games at last year’s World Cup was a disappointing return for a side that had threatened to put on a better show.
Not that past failures will diminish American gumption. Confidence is a byproduct in the land of the free and home of the brave. And stationed at a position so often likened to a quarterback in American football, an Irish-born playmaker embodies this virtue most of all.
“I’ve always been able to stand up for myself. Having two older brothers toughens you up”