It will take more than nicknames & and a leprechaun to promote rugby stateside, writes Brendan Grehan…
by Brendan Grehan
IN A LITTLE over a month, Les Kiss's Ireland will line out against the USA Eagles in Houston.
Joe Schmidt will be watching in the stands. The marketing wizards in USA Rugby came up with an oh-so funny promotional video with the Eagles captain, Todd Clever having a chinwag with a leprechaun on a park bench. There is even a pot of gold.
Frankly, the video is insulting and dare I say it racist. If the Eagles were playing the Springboks, would the Leprechaun be replaced with an African warrior, I don't think so.
It saddens me that the best that this is the best that USA Rugby can come up with promote the game.
Given the great links between Ireland and the USA, one would have expected something with a bit more wit. Maybe they should have got Ed Burns to direct a short video.
One could argue that were it not for the Irish influence over the years in the American game up to and including Tony Smeeth and Derek Dowling , Rugby in the USA and
Canada would not exist.
Last year, Over 17,000 turned out to see the USA play Italy in Houston. So roughly the same as a sold out RDS. The USA have some way to go before the greatest of the oval ball games leaves its niche and enters the mainstream.
Of course, now that Sevens will be an Olympic sport in Rio, it offers the best hope of rugby getting some manner of stakehold in the USA.
Recently it was with some surprise that I read Tom Dart's article in The Guardian indicating that the NFL are planning to back a professional rugby union competition stateside.
There is talk of London Irish playing a USA 'Barbarians' selection at Gillette Stadium on August 10, the home of the New England Patriots.
It doesn't look like it will be much of a contest given that London Irish will be playing a selection of International 'stars' bolstered with American footballers who will have spent a month learning the union game at a training camp in the midwest. No current USA Internationals will be involved in the game.
The USA is the great untapped market for Rugby Union and it was only a matter of time before somebody came up with a proposal for a professional league stateside. I was living in Boston when the game went open in 1995 and they were even talking about it back then. Every so often it comes back again. It could bring extra revenue to the NFL as the stadiums could be used in the spring and summer months. But I don't imagine that there would be much atmosphere at an empty Gilette Stadium for the Boston Leprechauns playing the New York Shamrocks.
This proposal looks far-fetched and I would be surprised if anything comes of it. Mind you Boston or San Diego in the spring could be the perfect base for an Irish player on the cusp of retirement.
As it stands the development of the game in the USA lies with USA Rugby and their pal "Lucky" the Leprechaun.
A future USA Captain, Scott LaValla from Olympia, Washington State, will be lining out for Stade Francais against Leinster in the RDS.
Brendan Grehan is a journalist.
Twitter: @brendanxavier
Facebook: Brendan Grehan
