Professional Rugby in America: The Players

Today, in Part 1 of our five part series examining the possibility of professional rugby in America, we take a look to see if there is enough depth in the American player pool to make a league happen.

Most professional leagues in most sports around the country serve two purposes: make money by entertaining fans and improve the national team. If you look at leagues like the Aviva Premiership, Top 14, and RaboDirect Pro12, they are making it increasingly more difficult for players not eligible to play for one of the home countries or France to play in those leagues. The Irish have gone as far as to say that if one of the provincial teams has a non-Irsh player, none of the other teams can have a non-Irish qualified player at that position. In the Aviva Premiership, teams are given money for having 15 England-qualified players in their team. French visa restrictions are increasing, and teams in Italy and Scotland are basically 1B and 2B teams for their national team. The Southern Hemisphere isn’t immune either; Super Rugby has equally as stringent restrictions as the Northern Hemisphere. More after the jump.




You can’t really blame those countries for wanting to develop their own national teams, but for players from America, Canada, or even Argentina, it can make it extremely difficult to get a contract. Americans end up taking contracts wherever they can and as a result, there are Americans all over the world: England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, and Japan. They play at all different levels as well. But those are the lucky players. For every player playing professional rugby there is at least one or two Americans that could play but are shut out. Just look at Shawn Pittman and Andrew Suniula. Pittman was a consistent performer for London Welsh while they were in the RFU Championship but when the team moved up, he was cut. Suniula signed on for Cornish Pirates and played well when he wasn’t hurt, but he was also cut. Despite showing well in the RFU Championship, neither could land another contract and are currently without a team. The same could be said for Derek Asbun who played well at Oxford and with the Eagles but hasn’t been able to find a team, mostly due to his residency status.

Some of the players that do have an opportunity overseas are players with U.S.-eligibility but that haven’t played for the United States. When we talked to Eagles coach Mike Tolkin recently, he talked about players like Callum Black or Tommy Seymour that might like to suit up for the Eagles but risk their contracts because they would no longer qualify.

What this boils down to is that there are Americans out there that would be well-served playing in a professional domestic league. There are some players like Scott LaValla, Taku Ngwenya, Chris Wyles, Samu Manoa, Paul Emerick, and Todd Clever that are getting games in top-level leagues and should stay there because the quality would be higher than an American league, but for players like Asbun, Chris Biller, Pittman, and Suniula, who have played in Europe but no longer do, the league would be a great landing spot. In addition, there are several Americans playing in Europe or overseas that aren’t playing at the highest level. Mate Moeakiola and Andre Liufau are playing with Nevers in the French third-division and would be well served playing in a domestic league. The same goes for Lou Stanfill in Italy. Also, there are players like Roland Suniula, Seta Tuilevuka, and Inaki Basauri who are playing in the Pro D2. It’s a great league but if the U.S. were to have a league, it would be hard to argue that they would be better served staying in France. Further, a professional league in America may mean that players like Seymour, Black, or South African-based Fudge Mabeta or Marcel Brache may finally see the option of continuing to play professional rugby and represent the Eagles.

But the big question is whether there are enough of these players available/willing to play in a U.S. professional league. Naturally, it depends on how many teams you are talking about. If it were a 10-12 team league, probably not. But if it was a 6-8 team league, there would probably be enough players to make a very competitive league, at least equal to the Italian Super 10 and other similar leagues. In total there are roughly 25 players* out there on the national team or the fringe of the national team that would make a great basis for a league. Further, if you add in the playing pool from Canada (assuming any professional league would have at least one or two teams in Canada) then that gives a solid basis for about two teams. They wouldn’t be the biggest squads but they would be decent. Looking even deeper, there is a large pool of college rugby players is this country that would jump at the chance to play pro. More converts from American football might also make the switch. These two groups together would add about another 50 players.

Lastly, there is the foreign factor. A league in the United States would be an attraction to many players overseas. Every year it seems that one or two New Zealand players are looking for a year abroad. Most often they turn to the high-spending teams in Japan. There is no way that an American league could match those payments but the lure of playing in America could be certain to draw several good players. These foreign players would also help by sharing their experience with younger American players. Further, a professional league in America would naturally be a magnet for the region. The Americas aren’t exactly known for their powerhouse rugby outside of Argentina, but having the league include the best from South America and North America would only further bolster the league’s playing pool.

Overall, I just don’t buy it when cynics say there aren’t enough players in the U.S. to make a professional league. The U.S. playing pool has some very strong players and if you pull back some of the overseas contingent each team could have up to five or so national team members. Supplementing the league with Canadian, regional and world players would only make it stronger.

Players either capped or on the fringe of the national team that would be good candidates for a domestic league (of course I missed some):

Derek Asbun, Chris Biller, Conor Coyne, Andre Liufau, Mate Moeakiola, Mike MacDonald, Brian Doyle, Shawn Pittman, Tom Katzfey, Lou Stanfill, Shaun Davies, Mike Petri, Mose Timoteo, Will Holder, Seamus Kelly, Luke Hume, JJ Gagiano, Nic Johnson, and James Paterson