The All Blacks will play in Chicago later this year – prompting the question: is the United States about to become a super heavyweight of the world game?
The All Blacks will play in Chicago lat er this year at a sold- out Soldier Field in Chicago. GREGOR PAUL looks at whether the US is poised to finally shed its unwanted sleeping giant ta g.
Tier Two rugby nations are a lot like ice- bergs - only the tip pokes above the surface and judgements are made entirely on what is visible. In the case of rugby, it is the respective national sides that are in plain view.
Which is why, when the final whistle blows at Soldier Field on November 1, there may be assumptions made about the US Eagles. It is inevitable they will be well beaten by the All Blacks. This historic test will be a fantastic spectacle, but lacking in drama. If the Eagles can keep the margin of defeat to less than 50, they will have done well.
Unfortunately, a scoreline like that will have casual observers writing them off. Perspective and balance are not always applied: a 50- point hiding will confirm in many minds that the US remain the perennial basket case. The sleeping giant that will never be woken.
Look beneath the surface, though, and the picture is different. The Eagles are not an accurate representation of how the game is developing in the USA. The national side has not been the main focus of the regime’s development strategy over the last eight years. The emphasis has been on long- term, bottom- up growth: the bulk of the available money and resource has been poured into the base of the pyramid to build a foundation that has generated a genuine optimism that America is most definitely not the perennial basket case. It is most definitely not slumbering. The giant is awake, it just needs a bit more time for the evidence to manifest in the test arena.
“In 10 years from now, I think we will be a viable Tier One nation,” says outgoing US Rugby chairman and NZ Rugby World columnist Kevin Roberts. By that, he means the Eagles will be able to consistently challenge the likes of Scotland, Italy, Argentina and possibly Wales and Ireland.
If it sounds like an overly bold claim, it’s probably not. When Roberts took the chair in 2006, he and his executive team effectively had one fundamental decision to make: should they pursue a quick- fix or play the long- game?
The option was there to emulate Major League Soccer - to set up professional teams across the country, fill them with foreign stars most likely past their best and hope this would build an audience and inspire a generation of new players. It didn’t work that well for football and rugby, having given it due consideration, couldn’t see that it would work that well for them either.
Winning hearts and minds by going down the road of glitz and glamour – wasn’t going to happen. “There were plenty of All Blacks telling us they would like to finish their careers in the US and it was tempting,” says Roberts. “But ultimately we couldn’t see how that was going to end up with more American kids playing the game.”
With the decision made to be patient, to plant the seeds rather than buy the tree, it was a case of systematically identifying the boxes to tick: all the areas of development that would need attention to ensure that in time, America would be recognised as a genuine rugby powerhouse.
The first business on Roberts’ agenda was governance. Geography and population are America’s greatest strength and weakness and 10 years ago, rugby’s administration was driven by self- interest. A streamlined structure was approved, with a majority of independent directors - who each brought a specific, relevant expertise - and professional athletes on the board. Former England captain and coach of several English Premiership teams, Nigel Melville, was appointed chief executive and with the engine built, the custodians had to decide where to go.
“We put together a purpose, which effectively spelled out our 10- year plan,” says Roberts. “We wanted to inspire Americans to play the game and to play it the American way. We asked ourselves what was the greatest imaginable challenge and with total revenues of about US$ 5million, we said getting those up to US$ 20 million.”
That notion of the American way has pervaded every initiative of the last eight years. If, and now most likely when, America is ensconced at world rugby’s top table, that seemingly small detail could be the smartest decision made.
Plenty of established nations have made the mistake of trying to superimpose ideas and cultures from other countries. The Celts in particular have never been able to lose their obsession with the All Blacks - monkey see, monkey do and it has been to their detriment. Even Australia fell into that trap - hiring Robbie Deans as coach of the Wallabies in the hope he could take the ideas that were so successful with the Crusaders and instil them across Australia.
England’s rejuvenation under coach Stuart Lancaster has plenty to do with his conviction that England must play like England. He has given them a sense of identity, purpose and pride they didn’t previously have and the USA, while not as advanced, do at least have the same belief and desire to be unashamedly American. Win or lose, they will do it their way which is why, wherever possible, Americans have been installed in key coaching and administrative posts.
New Zealand’s Peter Thorburn was parachuted in to coach the Eagles at the 2007 World Cup; succeeded by Australian Scott Johnson then Ireland’s Eddie O’Sullivan. By 2012 the time was right to appoint the home grown Mike Tolkin.
When Roberts was coming to the end of his second term, again, it felt the right time for an American to take the job and it was a relatively straightforward decision to appoint the skilled and experienced Bob Latham to the chair.
That commitment to Americanise has been total. Melville says when they decided to roll out what is known in New Zealand as ‘ Rippa Rugby’, they had to change the name. “When I came into the job, we didn’t have what I call a youth game. All our longer term strategical thinking was about building a strong foundation of players who had grown up with rugby.
“We had to plant that seed so that we could have six and seven year- olds running around with a rugby ball in their hands.
“Typically our youth game was being built around 17- 19 year- olds at High School, or kids older, who were at College. So we looked around the world at all the various non- contact versions of rugby that were being used to engage really young kids, and while they were all largely similar, we adopted New Zealand’s Rippa Rugby.
“But we couldn’t call it that as no one in America knew what on earth the world ‘ rippa’ meant. So we called it Rookie Rugby because we felt that mums and dads, who are such a big influence at that age, would know what it was. When their kids came home and said they wanted to play ‘ Rookie Rugby’ they would know what that meant.”
The Hillsborough County region of Tampa was chosen as the first trial location for Rookie Rugby and within six months, 72,000 kids had given it a go. Melville estimates that in excess of two million American children have now been through the programme.
The importance of that is enormous. Typically, in the past, few American teenagers would have said rugby was their main sport. Those who played it seriously tended to have discovered it only after being cut by College gridiron programmes. Physically they were equipped to pass, catch, run and collide, but that didn’t make them readymade to successfully transition. “There are people who think it is enough to be a great athlete,” says Melville. “It is not. Players coming across in their late teens or early 20s are going to be behind the curve internationally.”
What the US has now is a generation – and more to come – of kids who have seen rugby as their primary sport from as far back as they can remember. Not all of them will stay with it – the American Football programmes at High School and College will snaffle plenty - but that’s not terminal. Those programmes are ruthless and narrow and
they discard more athletes than they keep. “Guys can always come back to rugby,” says Melville. “That’s the difference. If you have had guys who have grown up playing rugby and then try American Football and it doesn’t work out, they can pick it up again. That’s not the same as trying to learn it from scratch.”
And possibly more importantly, this emerging generation will be instrumental in establishing what the American style of rugby actually is. In time, no one will need to ask what exactly is the American way. Young men will gravitate to the Eagles and instantly know – and they will know by doing nothing more than coming through the development system.
US Rugby have clawed their way into good shape. The next goal is to get themselves into great shape and there are several factors in their favour to help with that.
One of the sayings prevalent in the Roberts regime was to create no enemies. The US needed allies and it has them. They have cosied up to the IRB – winning plaudits for their innovative governance structure and steady ambition. Not renowned for being far- sighted, the IRB were able to work out that the US is the biggest sports market in the world and home to many of the biggest corporations.
US Rugby has also cosied up to the International Olympic Committee having
realised early the potential impact of having Sevens on show in 2016 and beyond. The USA is an Olympic nation – insular in its four big sports - the Olympics is the only stage where their athletes are exposed to global competition.
Americans will watch their team play Sevens at the Olympics – and they will watch in their millions. Rio will provide massive exposure for Sevens specifically, but also rugby generically.
There is a strong and healthy strategic partnership in place with New Zealand Rugby and the Americans have carefully cultivated their relationship with both the Aviva Premiership and Top 14. When they need their overseas professionals released – they don’t usually encounter too much resistance or hostility.
With all these ducks in a row, there’s every reason to be confident about the US continuing to post healthy increases in playing numbers and commercial returns.
But there are two things that need to happen for them to be fully on the path to Tier One status. The first is the establishment of a domestic, professional competition.
It doesn’t need to be top flight necessarily: it just needs to provide those involved with regular, meaningful competition; exposure to good coaching and professional cultures and enough income that they can devote the required time to their strength and conditioning.
If it can build and consolidate a broadcast audience and media profile all the better – but it’s main purpose may end up being to serve as a feeder competition to established leagues around the world.
Which highlights the need for the second step change to be made. “At the moment we play six tests a year,” says Latham. “The All Blacks play 14. England played a similar number last year I think. If you look at next year – when there will be a World Cup – we won’t play any tests in June and that is a problem – we will be trying to compete with Tier One nations at the World Cup and yet we only play a Tier One nation once a year and not in World Cup years.”
Fixing that is a priority and Latham will tirelessly lobby the IRB to put this issue somewhere near the top of its agenda in 2016. The problem from a US perspective sits on three fronts: there is the lack of tests per se; there is the lack of tests against Tier One opposition and there is the specific problem of World Cup years.
The first problem is arguably the most pressing. The Eagles, like every other Tier Two nation, are hampered by their lack of time together. The USA need to be involved in an annual competition – a version of the Rugby Championship or Six Nations. Geography, time zones and player release windows from major professional competitions make it hard to know when this competition should be played and who should be involved – but regardless, a solution has to be found.
To an extent, if the first problem is fixed, the third problem of World Cup
years will also be fixed. The lack of Tier One exposure, to a lesser extent, will also be helped by the creation of an annual Tier Two tournament.
With more games, the Eagles can expect to become more credible opposition and therefore a more attractive draw card for the likes of Scotland, Ireland, Italy and Wales.
Then, of course, there is the prospect, in the wake of the All Blacks’ visit this November, of other top nations such as South Africa, England and Australia realising there are commercial returns to be had from playing in the US.
If the US had 10- 12 tests a year and two, three or four of those were against Tier One opposition... how long before they are an entirely different force in the world game?
It is scarcely believable even to those who have poured their soul into US Rugby since 2007 that in November this year, the Eagles will play the All Blacks at a sold out, iconic NFL stadium. This will be rugby’s greatest day in America: an incredible opportunity to build a new audience and increase the player base.
Everyone connected with the game in the States knows the scale of the opportunity. Inch by inch they have won new followers in the last 10 years. The test against the All Blacks is a chance to take a giant stride. It will be televised live on a mainstream channel and for a week leading into the game, Chicago will be a rugby rather than a gridiron city.
Americans will take note – largely because the All Blacks are irresistible.
“They are great ambassadors of the sport,” says Latham. “The test will be a
I think a lot of people will see that we are credible enough to host the world’s best team and that the game will reveal that the people who play this game have fantastic values.’ Bob Latham
great opportunity for anyone [ American] who has ever picked up a ball, or who has rugby in their soul, to celebrate and enjoy. I think a lot of people will see that we are credible enough to host the world’s best team and that the game will reveal that the people who play this game have fantastic values.”
Realism and perspective are going to be important. The Eagles, with the best will in the world, won’t get close, but what November 1 will do is showcase America’s ability to host a superb event: they will add a much- needed point of difference to the global game. And what it will also hopefully do, is get the All Blacks thinking about coming back. “We need to either offer them competition on the field, or commercial returns,” says Latham about what it will take to get New Zealand to return to the US.
There’s a fair chance that within 10 years, America will be able to do both.