Marty Veale is a name familiar to a lot of Kiwi rugby fans. A former North Harbour and Northland player, Veale took his skills offshore to play for the Kubota Spears in Japan and London Wasps in the United Kingdom. Now Marty is using his skills in an entirely different realm, having stepped up to be the head coach of the New York-based Old Blue Rugby Football Club. He brings his wealth of experience, and apparently “The best ‘tache in the game” to bear on a side celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. I caught up with Marty this morning to have a chat about coaching in the US, and the state of US Rugby.
For many in New Zealand it probably seems unusual to retire from a professional career and coach in a market not well known for your sport of choice. Marty explained his decision to take up this challenge:
“I’d been involved with rugby for so long. [rugby] was all I’d known for 13 years. I’d trained as a mechanic straight out of high school, but it was a long time since I’d done that, I didn’t much like the idea of going back on the tools again.”
Marty had begun his coaching qualifications while playing in the UK, and coaching seemed like a natural progression for him. However, again, New York seemed an unusual choice, given the bigger markets of Europe and Japan had also seen his skills.
“I was between contracts with North Harbour back in 2005, and I’d missed out on a Super Rugby Contract. I needed to get out of New Zealand for a bit, and a couple of guys I played with in Harbour, Adrian Donald and Joe Ward had met some guys through the 7’s tournaments in Hong Kong. They struck up a relationship with one of the guys based in New York, and I ended up there.”
Marty continued to maintain contact, returning to New York for a time subsequent to playing in Japan in 2008, before stopping in “On the way home from the UK” in 2011. At the time Marty had made contact, Old Blue’s management was in the process of overhauling the coaching of the team. “The management had gotten sick of the revolving door policy with coaches who would be here for 12 to 15 months then be gone again. Issues with jobs, visa, green cards and so forth made it hard to maintain consistent coaching. I was able to structure a deal which saw me signing on as Head Coach for at least three years. This gave the team more stability and consistency in the coaching, which meant we weren’t having to change and re-learn things each time the team got back together after a break.” “Going from Fall to spring we don’t need to start again, the guys can just fit back in and build on what we’ve already learned.”
This is especially important as the rugby season is split, with no game-play from late November to mid-February.
When asked if having that stability in coaching would be an area that USA Rugby should look towards developing in, to help the game move forward in America, Marty said:
“It definitely helps [having that stability] the top clubs need to work together, they need to be on the same page, and be helping each other to get that level of rugby up. The country is so big, you have a lot of different ideas, sometimes clubs don’t agree with what other clubs are trying to achieve. They differ on what they think is best for the game. I think if people worked more towards the betterment of the game in America we’d be a lot better off.”
On the subject of clubs pulling in different directions, I asked Marty what his thoughts were on the newly announced Pacific Rugby Premiership, and the potential impact on the game in general.
“It’s [The premiership] not going to take anything away from the game as such, as they’ll still be playing a high level of rugby, but it is sort of a breakout competition. In terms of what they’re doing I can understand what they’re trying to achieve, It could possibly have been handled better though.”
The Pacific Rugby premiership, and the need to develop the game, has seen the infrastructure of US Rugby change over the years. Old Blue RFC now has a string spot in the Elite Cup, which has been developed to replace the former Super Rugby series. Celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year I asked Marty what changes he had seen in the club.
“We’re a younger squad, it used to be people wouldn’t really find rugby until their 30’s (an age at which most professional rugby players are starting to be considered old) so they’d start then and play into their 40’s. Now with the internet and travel being more accessible the younger generation is watching games online, and learning so much more than just what they do on Tuesday or Thursday nights.”
“They’re looking for that friendship, they’re looking for that kicking around with your mates. They enjoy that social aspect as well as having the physical game. In America you don’t really have social sports, rugby fills that void, you can still be competitive and play a contact sport while still having the family aspect.”
Old Blue has also produced players such as Adam Siddall and Luke Hume who have gone on to represent the USA at a national level.
“It’s nice to see your players with their name in the national squad, and your clubs name next to that. I know the club’s really proud of what they’ve achieved as well.”
“Adam’s developed really well. He does have aspirations of playing professionally though. If we lose him to a European team for example next year I feel like we’ve done our job by giving him a stepping stone. We can’t compete with the money being thrown around in Europe, but we can help these guys along and give them an opportunity. Especially some of these guys that come in from New Zealand and Australia, they may not get the same opportunities back in their home countries, if the paperwork all works out then it could be a big opportunity for them to move forward.”
I did discuss whether Marty saw the chance of rugby going professional so it could compete with the European market.
“It would be nice, but at the moment I don’t think the interest is there from the television stations, and that’s where the revenue is. If anything women’s rugby may go professional first as they’re doing a lot better in the world standings, they’re about third in the world so they’re really competitive on the international stage. That may, however, help the game in general move forward.”
The interest in the sport does seem to be growing however, we talked about the Eagles versus Maori All Blacks game that Marty was at.
“I spoke to a couple of the players, Ben Afeaki and Zac Guilford, after the match and they said the crowd was just amazing.” Given the response to this the All Blacks are now looking to play a game in the US in November 2014. “Given the brand they bring, the game they bring, there’s no reason why they can’t sell out a Metlife stadium, or another one of the big 70,00 to 80,000 seat NFL stadiums. The North East and California both have big sport followings so they could definitely do it.”
I’d like to thank Marty Veale for chatting to me today, to find out more about Marty and Old Blue New York either check out their website, or follow Marty on Twitter and Old Blue on their Twitter.
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Main photo credit: David Rogers via Zimbio.com
