So Can Rugby Break the USA? | Squidge Rugby
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- čas přidán 25. 12. 2018
- Now a nation set on shoulderpads, it's amazing to think once upon a time, rugby stood on the brink of becoming a major US sport. So how did rugby get lost in amongst the baskets and the bases, and where does their current growth leave their national team with just months until the 2019 World Cup?
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And finally, even though I forgot to mention it in the video, Malawi are trying to get a national 7s team off the ground for the first time ever, and need help to get them to the African Rugby Championship. You can give them a hand at www.backabuddy.co.za/malawi-7.... - Sport
As an American rugby fan was very happy to hear your take. I got into the sport because my son started playing it and absolutely fell in love with it. Thanks! Love your channel.
@Ons Huis sure! Why not? It could only provoke more interest in the sport in the States.
Will you support MLR?
@@krousaj of course!
MLR is looking to take the approach of Major League Soccer - a mid-tier sport in the US that capitalizes on its niche market to maintain a solidly profitable league. I doubt it'll grow as big as the NFL or the NBA, but there's definitely enough of a fanbase to maintain 10 or so teams.
If it gets the popularity of MLS or NHL in the US then they will be a force to rekon with on the international stage.
@@Tom-eq7eh it will need to get to a level where players will choose international glory over middle tier contracts in the NFL. If rugby can attract players who would normally be undrafted free agents, or better yet, 6th to 7th round talent, then we're cooking
Peter Keros There are so many similarities between Rugby and American football. The term ‘touchdown’ , 3-4 defense mirroring a scrum, you can lateral pass the ball back anytime, field goals and you can even google Doug Flutie doing a drop kick for the Patriots. There’s forward passing with a line out. The only difference is there’s no blocking in Rugby. I followed the NFL since the 1970’s. I can’t watch it anymore. There’s most definitely an appetite for Rugby here.
Well, I'm pretty sure the people who started playing basketball or American football in the US, would have never imagined it would be as big.
People are finally waking up and seeing what is clearly the better of two sports. The problem in America isn't the lack of interest. You can't just create a team and join a league like here in the UK. It's all about money and buying your way in to the league. It's nice it's making a come back but if they go the MLS route it's wouldn't be fair and the sport won't grow.
So if rugby allowed professionalism from the start it could of been the biggest sport in the world
Second thought; would that of been good or bad thing?
Have not of
Well League did and it isn't
@@TheMintedAero1993 It is in Australia. Plus the code wouldn't have split in the first place if you posh fuckers hadn't banned people being paid..
@@joenelson4235 Australia is not the world. Is League bigger than AFL and Cricket there? If this posh fucker had been alive back in the day I would have been campaigning for proffessionalism. Cba having a job as well as rugby. I played AFL for Scotland as an amateur then went in to work the next all stiff and unable to bend my legs and none of the customers knew or cared about my achievement
I’m flying to a camp tomorrow with the top 200 or so high school players in America. American Rugby is definitely on the come up. We have a huge number of dedicated players (way more than just that camp) that are playing for top tier high school and collegiate programs that can make the jump to professional rugby. My local club is recruiting at least 5 players every year that have never played rugby before. It may not seem like much but our state (NC) has produced numerous professional players and has multiple high school clubs that compete at a high intensity.
Jack Williams I’m guessing that is EIRA winter camp, I didn’t have the money to go but good luck!
I'm surprised how many youth programs there are in NC. Even a smaller city such as Greensboro has some high school and youth league. When I was growing up in the New England, there was nothing
@@andrewheggarty332 League sucks balls, everyone knows that!
@@andrewheggarty332 Yeah but there is exactly four nations in the world where league is more popular than union. Australia, Serbia, Lebanon and the other is Papua New Guinea. Club or provincial rugby in union is booming around the world. We can only really count two countries that have professional leagues (with invitees) in league. There's a reason the Rugby World Cup doesn't need its 'union' qualifier in the name. And it has nothing to do with speed. Nor strength. Nor....everything.
@@andrewheggarty332 I'm English, Northern (and that's important) and a League fan also - trust me Union is blowing League out of the water at the moment over here and has no foothold in Scotland whatsoever. Opinions and biases don't really matter in any way when it comes to what fills the coffers. League, like AFL and Gaelic Football just doesn't have international appeal.
I welcome your opinion but I can as easily say MLB is harder hitting, more intense and faster paced than cricket and it still doesn't mean shit to an Indian. Verbs mean nothing if you can't convince someone by using negative language to describe a similar sport. That won't win over anyone.
The MLR championship trophy is hilariously American to me. It's just an 80 pound steel version of the logo. Love it.
I can’t help but look at the MLR Championship shield and roll my eyes. Maybe I’m being more optimistic. I believe that as the MLR progresses, they’ll have a much better trophy to give to the winners.
should have mention there 7s team this season 2 finals in a row. well coached have experience, pace and power very balanced and the 7s can make rugby in general more popular
I think too that 7's allows for an easier transition from players starting in American football to the tackle skills and game philosophy than 15s.
Juan Combrinck,not really because 15s always has been and always will be bigger and more popular than 7s.Most countries don't take 7s as seriously as 15s,in fact NZs 7s team is basically made up of 15s rejects yet they still won the world cup.If NZ took 7s as serious as 15s,they would dominate.
@@Trajan2401 7s rugby is the gateway not 15s here in the states is easier to pickup on and faster paced its not about the national level here; even though our 7s team is doing great this year the aim is more of the grassroots building from the bottom up.
@@fatcraze216 ,the US have their priorities around the wrong way and should be putting more emphasis on the 15s game which is the real game,bigger and more popular than 7s.I think the US and Fiji take 7s more serious than anyone else so should win the world cup or Olympic 7s sooner than later.
So true
As a Frenchman, I really appreciate the amount of banter you've put in this vid. Well played.
Thank you squidge. As an American college rugby player and world rugby fan, this is something I have been wanting to see. USA rugby has a long way to go but with interest in the sport from outside one could see the sport explode here.
I'm so glad I found this. Looking at the RWC Pool, I thought we'd get crushed. Now, I have hope that even though we'll still probably get whooped, we'll make a good showing. Thank you for that!
USA is a lot better than they're given credit for. .it's unfortunate that they were drawn in the Pool of Death though, had they drawn pools A or D their prospects of making top 8 would have been very possible. I'm not saying it's not possible now. However should they make it through, that'll be an upset bigger than 2015's Japan victory over South Africa.
@@aotnz4055 We're getting better, just a shame that we are in the Pool of Death. And yes, us advancing would be a bigger deal than Japan over South Africa. That would move Rugby into some prime time conversation here.
Never clicked on a notification faster
Never heard someone with a speech impediment speak faster.
"a piston powered cow" possibly the strangest compliment I've ever heard haha
Piston powered rhino would've been better lol.
MLR is also expanding on the east coast (shoutout to my local team Old Glory DC for being one of them for next season), so the demand is for sure getting higher. I may be relatively new to the sport, but man I'm excited to see it becoming more and more popular!
I love this quick video. Think it sums things up for us a bit and shows that there is solid work being done!
I live in and play college rugby in America and I greatly appreciated this video
Rugby can **definitely** become established in the US!
Ok, it won't replace the mega-big sports there (American football, ice hockey, baseball, basketball) but it can definitely create its own niche (and that niche could get quite big!).
The US women's rugby sevens team (for example) just beat our team (New Zealand) in a tournament final in France!
Rugby sevens (as opposed to fifteen-a-side rugby) is likely to be the first form of rugby to make an impact in the US. **Much** faster than American football!
I don’t know about other states, but the Bay Area has a pretty great rugby culture at the high school level. A lot of the coaches played for the USA team or college squads. And from what I’ve seen so far many of those players go on to play in college. If you asked me if I could see rugby taking over the us, I would say in 50 years it may be a pretty major sport, maybe not as popular as the nba or mlb but probably on the level of lacrosse. Just very loyal pockets that play and watch for the spirit of the game, that can spread around the country.
Taufet'e is a terrifying tank of a man, in the ireland game he was a one man army and his try the equivalent of trying to tackle the giant ball rolling after Indiana Jones.
Then in the second half he got ktfo and was a totally different game, very excited to see him play again
Just a small note to update in 2019.....my Seattle Seawolves defended their title, scoring in the final seconds on a rolling maul to complete the comeback over the San Diego Legion, 26-23. Seattle has now sold out 12 consecutive home games (4 in the first season when only 8 games were played, and all 8 this season in a 16 game season). Attendance at the championship game doubled, and the introduction of 3 new teams should help increase the popularity of the game in 2020. Combine that with the success of the USA 7's program (both men and women finished second in the HSBC world 7's league this year), and yes, rugby will survive, and thrive, in the sports mad USA. Granted, rugby will never pass up the top 5 sports in the USA, but enough interested has developed to ensure its survivability.
As an American dedicated to rugby since 1990, I say brilliant video!
Merry Christmas and thank you for another wonderful video.
Top stuff and happy new year!
PS. The anticipation is high for your collaboration with Glove.
Great video! I would love to see Rugby become a major sport in the USA, I'm astounded that they are currently 12th in the world!
Same considering they got their ass handed to them by Ireland's B team
@@sodaking6858 'Ireland's B team' could probably beat half of the tier 1 nations though tbh.
I hope it catches on. Funnily enough my favourite American funny man Chris Farley (RIP) was an American rugby player and loved the game
Top stuff, more coverage of tier 2 nations please. Thanks again and a happy festive season to you and yours.
My grandad won a gold medal for USA in 1924 for rugby was crazy
I'm coming back to this video to educate a friend on USA rugby history. Finding this comment is so awesome. That's really f***n cool bro
After watching this my desire for you to do a video on Canada like this has grown immensely. Please please do!! Especially since we've just joined major Rugby and might finally become once again a bigger force to be reckoned with.... Our Rugby history is insane and it be cool if you could do a video on it.
I didn't know Christmas was today?
Raw Rugby shite patter
auch! i just wanted snowflakes to land on
It's the second day of Christmas
I did, other than my birthday its the only times I get laid!
Jamac007 (; mama's boy
I watch the MLR final this week and I definitely got hooked on the game. I definitely think there is a market here for the sport. Especially with it's physicality and higher scoring the things that are missing in soccer that holds it back here.
I found out about my local Rugby club in middle school (a family member helped found Rugby in my state) but he didn't convince me to join until my sophomore year. I have fallen in love with the sport since. I hope it gets way more popular here, and when I get back from the Army I hope to play for my local men's team
Really really well written and performed piece there man i appreciate the hell out of this! SUBSCRIBE
Something I'm surprised wasn't mentioned: There's also been a substantial push for women's rugby in the USA, at least at the collegiate level, attracting women who want to be able to play a sport that involves tackling and other rough play who are largely excluded from American football. I could definitely imagine a situation in which, just like what the rest of the world calls football, the men's Eagles do alright and are at least a credible side, but the women's team is a dominant force.
I would like to see this too
Uhhh... Don't you know that there has been women's rugby in the USA for over 40 years? The USA women are responsible for grabbing women's rugby by the throat and waking it up to the fact that they can be serious about the game.
So many Americans have no idea about the game. Oldtimers like myself have been fighting to wake up the rest of the country for forever.
You could work for a couple years to get the local TV to do a story and all that was aired was essentially "Look! Here's some idiots playing Rugby instead of football".
Kind of disheartening.
never been so excited when these posts come up
Fantastic video! Keep up the good work!☺☺☺
Nice vid. Enjoyed it a lot!
Yeah! Great video! Can’t f**king wait for RWC!!
Midwesterner here. Played football as it was the only sport on offer at my small school. Now in my 40’s and started watching rugby just a couple years ago. So sad I’ve missed out all these years. Daughter (16yo) and I made the trip to soldier field to watch the Eagles last November. 7’s has her and my 9yo son up until 2 in the morning on the weekends so we can watch the games live. Haven’t been able to talk the wife in to letting me take them to Vegas in March, though....
Great channel..
👏👏👏👏easily the best rugby channel on CZcams 💯
Mr Squidge, you are seriously a great commentator and I totally enjoy your perspectives and takes on all things rugby. (from Cape Town South Africa) Love it. How about a follow up on American Rugby on a regular basis as we in South Africa see it as a huge market for the future of the game and I have heard that many young South African players are doing study bursaries on Rugby scholarships in the USA. Which might be true for many other youngsters from other Rugby playing nations, which I think is a great way to grow the sport into the USA. What knowledge do you have on such matters?
I live in the states and my high school is getting a rugby team this year. You already know I’m gonna be playing
I’m American and I really appreciate this video. Thanx!
Great video as ever. Any chance you could make a follow up video about why the Ospreys are back in form?
Again, an amazing video... thank you
Nice one! As you said, you should definitively do something about Rugby League :)
You have such incredible insight into our game...
As a proud American, I say bring on rugby, i love it.
I have room for more than 1 sport, i am not a sports snob, except soccer, can't stand it, too many spoiled babies, cheating and dives.
Yup.
I reckon divers should receive massive fines (like 50K plus another50K for the club) and stood down for 2 games
So many crunching tackles in soccer you're missing, if you want to remove the diving just watch the womens game.
Have to agree, but then, you would also need to add basketball to your exception list (since they have also mastered the fake dives, thumb in the eye, phantom foul mentality).
"Can't stand soccer, too many spoiled babies, cheating and dives."
Been watching soccer my whole life. It didn't used to be this way. The game is in need of some serious overhaul, because the bad sportsmanship and lack of tactics has become so pervasive that it's getting harder and harder to enjoy watching.
@@Emper0rH0rde simulation should be a yellow or a straight red
Holy Jesus Squidge, did I just see a Birr, Co Offaly reference?? As an Offaly man living in London and constantly having to explain where Offaly is (not a champagne county like Galway or Cork!), this is amazing!
THANK YOU....THANK YOU....THANK YOU!!! .....for doin a segment on U.S.A. rugby!!!
Thanks for doing a VLOG on the Eagles !
Rugby is fairly popular in the part of California I grew up in. JuJu Smith-Schuster even played rugby and I got to see him play at a tournament once because I lived in the town next to him. Our team was the pride of our town, Hawaiian Gardens Eagles 2 time state champs!! 🦅🏆🏆
Happy holidays lads and ladys
15s is fun but im going to bet that 7s is more popular here in the states its easier for beginners to pickup on and the free flow of the game attracts more athletes then 15s "sometimes" slow and redundant set pieces.
That Vunipola/Falatau joke had me creasing
Class video keep them coming, this rugby World Cup is going to be amazing.
forgot to mention the usa rugby women's team. 4th place in the rugby world cup 2017 and top sevens side
Also won the first Women's World Cup
I’m from the UK but I live in California, I play club rugby over here and it’s great, not as tactical and there’s still a way a go but the budget for my club is big, we go on tour and play in the best league in California. Half the coaches and players are British/Australian/Pacific Islander. It will become bigger eventually. But playing over here is fun because none of the Americans are even good 😂
And my experience was the opposite 😂, I joined my college team and they were badly funded to where the players had to pay to play, which is the main reason I stopped playing. I'm thinking isn't this suppose to be a collegiate sport? Why do I have to pay when they recruited me to play? 😂 Then on top of that we pay but it doesn't really cover transportation so we have to carpool to away games. I just thought that was some bullshit 😂😂
@googleuser how old are you ever thought about an academy
@@Jose-vc2du Well, you played rugby as a club sport. The school you attended gave the rugby club the same amount of backing and support as it did the Ultimate Frisbee team. If you had gone to a school that has given the game varsity status your experience would have been different. Probably, if you had gone to the latter school, you wouldn't have played at all because those players have been recruited out of states that have had high school rugby for decades.
@@rittherugger160 makes sense, all my school did was attempt recruit enrolled students that looked athletic which included me. They didn't have the funding to go out and recruit actual rugby players so they were stuck trying to work with what they got. There also aren't a lot of high schools in my area that offer rugby which also doesn't help the school
@@Jose-vc2du I started in club rugby in the early 70s. We paid to play. No coach other than more experienced players. At the time I was going to college and coaching JVs football.
The closest opponent was 100 miles away and a "University" team with most of the players already graduated, some in their 30s.
We and they "paid to play". We carpooled.
But we partied too. Something the "university" team wouldn't have been able to do if it was "varsity".
Rugby is different overseas. They have a lot of backing and infrastructure that we just don't have here. Since we don't have that infrastructure the players need to pay out of their own pockets. The dynamics are a lot different when a club owns land for fields. Locker rooms. A for profit clubhouse. A bingo game going once or twice a week.
All of that provides a club with funds needed to buy kits, balls, training pads, a sled etc, etc.... Maybe even send the lads on a tour.
The US has a LOOOONG way to go before we can think about toppling the All Blacks on a regular basis but if we can convince each other to build the types of clubs the top tier nations have............... WATCH THE FUCK OUT!!!
Love these previews of minnow teams
Psalm wooching looks like a beast.
He really is.
Love your vids!!!!
you forgot to mention atlanta because we're getting a pro team in 2020 and we have multiple leauges
merry christmas squidge
Best Christmas Present
The hotdogs my brother at 1.42... yes we’re very proud
"The scrumhalf's in the scrum' 😂😂
That was the cleanest sell out advertisement if I've seen one
I love how AJ McGinty played with Connacht when they won the Pro12
you missed a key point. now rugby is in the olympics it will get a huge funding boost in pursuit of another gold medel. that will then filter down into the club game and college sport. and 15 aside will grow as a result of 7's global success.
SQUIIIIIIDGE THANKS FOR DOING ONE ON USA
If rugby was a more vast sport, you’d easily have over a million subscribers
I think it should also be noted that Eddie O'Sullivan, the little Irish coach who couldn't, is spending a lot of time in America trying to get High School football players to switch to rugby. Granted it is so they can eventually play for Ireland but it could help spread awareness of the game in America and get more people involved in the game
How will they be able to play for Ireland?
@@KuSaiki 5 years nowadays
Ailin ofaolain don’t think England is the worst offender this mate?? Ireland have had a fair few in recent year that stand out to me more jan England
Pretty sure its the other way round if anything as US colleges are holding rugby trials in Ireland a lot. I know 3 people offered scholarships to these colleges because they couldnt crack the academies at home.
Eddie O'Sullivan spent a week coaching my team (Brown University) for the 2018 season
Love your vids
The problem with the friends episode was that the guys playing rugby were British guys in America, so it wasn't there fault, it was just the director who wanted Ross to be in the middle of a scrum upside down without a ref waving it off, if a ref didn't wave off a scrum for a player being at the top neck first, then that ref needs to be sacked
Oh, I've seen some bad refs in my day.
Once in the 70s a ref awarded my side a 22 dropout. I threw the ball up to my fly half up by the 22 and the whistle goes.... Ref called me for a forward pass. Gave the opposition a 5 meter scrum.
They took it, grinning and shaking their heads the whole time.
Could American football players swap codes
Wages could be problem though
Jimmy Collins I honestly don’t think they could. They’d rather get paid to get concussions, than play a sport for fun.
absolutely, a lot of guys switch over to union after their football careers end (either didn't get recruited for college or played in college but no pro prospects). adult american football is basically considered a joke.
Eddie O'Sullivan was actually talking about this in an interview not too long ago, he's involved with a program that's targeting college players who are good but aren't quite up to the professional level. We've already seen this with Roman Salanoa from Hawaii joining the Leinster academy. There's also a sense that with all the concussion related problems in American Football Rugby might be seen as a safer game, what with the no helmets, HIAs and the stricter tackling laws. Considering the amount of young Americans who would be Irish qualified this has obvious potential benefits for us in the future, but it could also turn out well for the USA and some of the pacific island nations too.
They could probably pick up some American football throwaways, the large majority of players don’t make it pro after college and rugby could potentially be a pro route from them.
Jimmy Collins speaking as an American who came to rugby in college and has since played all over the US and in Europe, The biggest issues is the tactical awareness. The years it takes to master excellent support lines and strategy just don’t pop into your head. Look at Carlin Isles, “fastest man in rugby” But couldn’t get the strategy in the XVs game. It’s about the rugby brain. Secondly, most American footballers don’t carry and pass the ball.
American rugby will succeed by doing what every other successful country has done: build a solid youth program and academy system.
American rugby needs to stop thinking that just massive American footballers are going to get them over the line. They don’t see space the way say a basketball or even soccer players do.
I know it’s pretty big in college sports. The college I went to had one of the best teams in college, at least when I went there.
Loving that Scarlets shirt cameo 😉😉
One of the obstzacles for rugby is... rugby union. In a country divided about the dangerousness of its N°1 contact sport, you have to look at the relative dangerousness of football, union and rugby league. Union is the most dangerous form of tackle football, among gridiron football and the two English forms of rugby football.
The USA should switch from rugby union to league (safer, simpler, quicker paced and more spectacular), and then rugby would really grow in this country.
Man I'd love Perry Baker's vertical jump. Bet Red Ross would too.
Please don’t leave us ever squidge we love you
Very interesting video
Dear squidge, please make a video on why the Scarlets are underperforming lately. I think it would make a great video with plenty of points to talk about. Thankyou.
Could you do a video of the improvements if any england have made thus year since the six nations
The 7s team is kicking international ass this year
I play rugby in america and omg do i really wish it was more popular
Go patriots
Go pats
Can you do a video on Neath RFC, explaining what's happening at the moment?
5:38 itm is called mitre 10 cup now
Just imagine if it was the opposite. We would have so many rapid, and powerful players from the USA.
NOTIFICATION GANG, I WANTED THID VIDEO FOR SO LONG, SQUIDGE4LYFE
Ditto!!
I believe Kenya will qualify for the World Cup one day
It's certainly possible - they've become a pretty decent force in the 7's game. The 15 a side game though is quite different, as Fiji often find out.
Rugby is taking hold in the Midwest USA, it's a way for those kids who couldn't play football anymore (too fat, too slow, too many head injuries in my case) to get back out there and play team sports again. At the state tournament in Missouri there were thousands of people who showed up to watch high school kids play on an American football pitch (didn't go well, the refs didn't know the conversion from yards to meters and I ended up taking conversion kicks from about 40 meters out). It's definitely growing, and I'm so excited to play this game for years to come
The way you said Tonga and Samoa sorry I just died
I don't even like rugby but these videos are so damn entertaining
Season ticket holder for the Seawolves! Been player for 6 years now here in seattle. Exciting stuff!
"A man with the leg drive of a piston powered cow"
As an American rugby fanatic I’m grateful for this vid! Keep up the great work!
If the USA actually warms to rugby, it could be an absolute terror to the established nations. Transition from American Football for players looking for something new wouldn't be hard, and we all know they'd be really good at it.
whoah there i know youre excited but it wil te take time before you turn into a terror but oneday maybe
Took Ireland 110 years to beat the All Blacks so yeah take it easy
Sir, I beg to differ.
Yes, the transition of athletic skills isn't that big of a deal but there are major differences between the codes.
Gridiron players, except for a small part quarterbacks, are taught NOT to think. Thinking is BAD in the gridiron game.
To become truly good in rugby you have to think. Not only about what to do right now but what you need to do after the right now. You need to think about what the defense thinks it needs to do. Most importantly, you need to think about what your teammates see and how the will react to what they see.
and please dont come with that america will adapt and for america it will be easy bullshit
Rit the Rugger I’m not sure what kind of Football you’re watching where they don’t have to think. Thinking is a huge part of Football as players and coaches
Here in the state of Iowa we have a high school rugby program but due to lack of kids per school going out for rugby we have to play sevens
0:31
Nakarawa: “I’m bout to end this mans whole career…”
Possibly the best christmas present for us Rugby fans in the states :D
At 1:45 I was at that match and I saw those two lads
Could you do a vid on Adam Jones pls? Or on gethin Jenkins ? Or on alum Wyn Jones pls?
4:24 BARNES!