If America sets its sights on a sport, it is somewhat inevitable that they will achieve success.
After all, they have the required funding, the facilities and perhaps, most importantly, the population.
With a population of 316 million people, the USA could have just 1% of its population interested in a new sport to reach 3 million supporters.
To put that into context, 3 million is the population of Wales as a whole.
Wales are a famous and proud rugby nation but for all the on field exploits; they do struggle with funding, facilities and playing numbers.
At the time of the last survey taken out by USA Rugby in 2011, there were 1,130,000 active rugby participants in America, which was almost double the 2007 figure. This makes rugby America’s fastest growing sport and it continues to grow.
This is still only a measly 0.36% of America’s massive population, but at the time the USA had over 35,000 senior players, Wales had 22,000 and New Zealand 27,000.
Granted, there may be a quality not quantity argument here but USA Rugby will soon start to find gems amongst this huge player base, after all they only need to find 23.
Part of the reason for this mass growth, is the Olympics. As we know, America, like China, thrives at the games and is always on the lookout for gold medal potential.
With rugby sevens set to make an appearance in Rio 2016, rugby has had the sort of boost that only the Olympics can give.
The Americans have also developed some star potential in recent years, helping to inspire the next generation.
In sevens we have seen ex-sprinter Carlin Isles tear up the circuit with his electrifying pace. Although Isles did not make it in the 15 man game at Glasgow Warriors, his efforts have helped to raise the games profile in the States.
Samu Manoa is another man who is making waves for American rugby. The Northampton Saints number 8 is amongst the best in the world in his position and has earned a contract with Toulon because of that.
Manoa, who has 10 caps for the U.S, Eagles will be the first American to play for the famous French club, a real step forward for the game.
In the last year the USA featured the historic game between the U.S. Eagles and the New Zealand All Blacks. They may have been beaten convincingly 74-6 but the game was important for what it represented, with 61,500 in attendance at Soldier Field, interest in rugby is certainly there.
There is of course the minor issue of American football, Baseball and Basketball to negotiate. These sports are the famous bastions of American sport and difficult to shift.
However, American football does carry many of the same skill sets as rugby does.
For example, as simplistic as it may sound they are both throw and catch games at root.
They also both involve collisions and big hits, the skill is found in making space and exploiting it, the games are very closely related.
In fact the job of a quarter back is similar to that of an outside half in rugby. They both are responsible for calling the plays for their team and making decisions under pressure.
The job of a good playmaker is as much about vision and temperament as anything else and a former quarterback could easily transfer these skills.
It is obvious that Americans will still grow up wanting to be NFL stars. The reality is that not all will make it. The job rugby has is to try and turn these NFL rejects into rugby stars.
The next step for rugby in the USA is to set up a Professional National League. Presently rugby union in America is split between eight regions across the country.
The size of America means that any sport struggles to set up a full national league due to the obvious logistical issues.
However, if one franchise can be taken from each of these eight regions, then an eight team national league could be set up, giving USA rugby are far more stable professional grounding.
They have the talent; they have the inspiration, the have the financial backing. Rugby is all set to explode in America in the next ten years and it can only be good for the world game.
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